Bee-lievable Flop

Lets start with Wheylan in their relationship and then ill get onto Duke. [Again most is this is from a very duke heavy perspective, and although I am trying to stay as true as cannon as I can I am not Bee]

Wheylan:

For me, Wheylan and Duke has issues in and and outside of the relationship. Wheylan being agressive at times to people who talk shit about Dukemir mainly pesants since he's scared of the nobility. Even as just a friend he's protective of Dukemir's name to the point he would get into bar fights for him. Duke of course is not the biggest fan of this, especially since he has some truama relating to it that I will get into when I go into more details on the past of Dukemir in another post.

Wheylan is also has a mis use of his powers [this mainly being about his shadows] but can be related to Dukemir in some way, now that he is dating the grand duke, it puts a lot more respect from others in the theater, he can use this to get out of trouble and use Dukemir for his strength, status and money. Now Bee has said that he would only use Dukemir for certain things, gaslighting him into resting and claiming it as spending quality time with him, using his money for dresses and getting Wheylan out of the dungeon after the result of a bar fight. He also uses how Dukemir can be accidentally intimidating and strength to keep himself safe outside of the theater. This can be seen as manipulative to people outside of the relationship. Duke just thinks he's being useful and helpful. So he'll do it anyways even if it is in some ways manipulative.

Wheylan's enabler tendencies and intrest in pain and death also come into their relationship as Dukemir becomes more and more possessive over time. Wheylan probably wouldn't really mind it as long as he's allow to see his friends, to which duke would agree to but would suddenly start coming with Wheylan instead of allowing them some alone time. He may also start to limit their time outside of the theater because he deems it "unsafe." Wheylan doesn't go outside of the theater much anyways other than for rein fare or a fun festival which means that Dukemir's possessiveness is left unchecked.

Not only that but if Dukemir gets a little more agressive which he can be in certain situations, Wheylans intrest in pain and death will just say "daym thats hot..." instead of ensuring that Dukemir doesn't get too agressive. If Wheylan isn't showing that its a problem then Dukemir is going to think it's something that Wheylan wants and in a way it is.

Dukemir:

Duke has a few problems when it comes to his love for Wheylan. We already established his possessiveness and how he would start to limit Wheylan's ability to leave his side in a very controling way. He can also get agressive when it comes to Wheylan's safety, especially around humans. With other puppets duke is a bit more gentle, but around humans and Dukemir is full defense mode.

At the rein fair outside the theater, Duke will still talk to humans and act friendly, but will probably keep atleast one hand near, or on Wheylan at almost all times. Either holding his hand, on his waist something to keep his dear heart close to him.

Duke doesn't mind humans but doesn't like it when their around other puppets. He knows how cruel they can be. For Wheylan he will behave but if someone tries to give Wheylan any trouble and they'll have to go through Dukemir. Although most of the time, around humans Duke is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. If a human tries to start shit with Dukemir about Duke then he'll just try to de-escilate the situation. Hes not trying to get into a fight. Hes just there for Wheylan.

Dukemir has a tendency to stalk, its part of how he knows where and whats happening with most of everyone. He knows most of the other puppets routines from either talking to them or stalking them. For him its a safety measure for most its probably fucking creepy as shit but... not many of the other puppets know he does it. Wheylan might know but toss it up as "eh it's duke tho. He's the nicest guy ever he's not going to stalk someone" while duke is actively stalking him. Although with Wheylan being into pain and death, he probably wouldn't care and accidentally encourage Dukemir's stalking.

In the end I feel like Dukemir and Wheylan are kinda stuck in like a forever redflag relationship where Wheylan doesn't stop Dukemir until his possessiveness gets too far and Duke doesn't care if Wheylan is manipulating him sometimes because he just wants to be helpful to Wheylan even if it means at the cost of himself.

"You are not him, yes?"

Number one: Wheylan being aggressive towards others when they slander Dukemir.

Correct, though it comes with layers. Wheylan will only get "I will be thrown out of the bar" violent when someone compares Dukemir to Crownus specifically. No one in the kingdom is as bad as Crownus, or so he thinks. Who knows, though?

Still, Wheylan does not like using violence if it's not needed. They're tired of violence, but it is useful in some situations, sometimes even necessary.

Anyone on or below his rank in the kingdom is easy to fight. Anyone above is risky, but if pushed enough, Wheylan will fight them. Not that it's happened. The pub is much too inappropriate for many of the noble folk. Plus, I don't think many of them want to hear the crass language usually used in there. Or the smell.

Number two (and number three): Misuse of powers in regards to the duke and the enabling aspect.

When it comes to using Dukemir's status. Absolutely. At some point, Wheylan even wondered if Dukemir could help him with some family matters (this is being gatekept for now). However, that seemed like a pain, and Wheylan wasn't desperate enough to ask for something like that.

Wheylan likes the protection that Dukemir gives, and it's genuinely not meant to come off as manipulative. The other's company is treasured dearly, especially when Wheylan doesn't want to spend time with friends or by themself. Though...they do feel at least a little bit bad about getting chucked into the dungeons when the fights go too far.

Oh, and the money. The money is a great benefit. However, Wheylan does feel bad for accepting such generosity, even if the two are in a relationship. The dresses he specifically would ask Dukemir to buy are an extremely specific shade of green and always on discount. Minimum 25% or else that's coming out of Wheylan's pocket somehow, even if it means sacrificing ren faire time (unless they're somehow a worker there, then it's the best of both workers).

When it comes to misusing their own powers? There's a good amount of hesitance. Precious and Soleil are his treasured shadows, meant to comfort first, hurt in desperation. Without those shadows, he's not able to defend himself or others very well, and if they're compromised, it takes a lot mentally and emotionally out of him to bring them back. This connects to how they really, really don't want to use their powers for something negative.

As one of Wheylan's red flags is their enabling of others, he would very much enable Dukemir's unhealthy means of 'protecting' others, but only to a degree. If/When Dukemir becomes too controlling and stifling (intruding on too much of their space and time for friends or their lonesome), Wheylan would feel they have no use but to weaponize Precious and Soleil against Dukemir. Soleil would use the shield to push Dukemir away and Precious would hold the pickaxe to the other's throat. Wheylan would use the opportunity to try to get away.

"Thou art not him, aye? I do not wish to harm thee, mine own light. Do not force mine own hand lest we both fall to despair, I beg o' thee. O, how I beg..."

Number four(?): Outside time & Humans feeling like potential dangers to Wheylan

Ren faires are Wheylan's breather from the kingdom, though, of course, they're not going to stay away forever. Dukemir joining? Amazing, great, extremely risky since they're shadow people and Wheylan takes great care into covering up all his own weak spots. At least his boyfriend has a disguise that works well?

Not all humans are bad, but all the years of people coming in and hurting the puppets only makes Dukemir's overprotectiveness all the more endearing. The handholding is especially nice, though does make it a little awkward when any of Wheylan's potential friends from the faire try to pull him away from the other.

If Dukemir is aggressive in this situation, no matter how unwell Wheylan is (unless they're just absolutely kept within the kingdom walls), the wheelwright is going to kick the other in the ankle. Neither of them need to be compromised at the faire, and...well...Wheylan does secretly like it, BUT STILL! IT'S BAD! IT'S BAD AND IT ATTRACTS MORE ATTENTION THAN NECESSARY.

Number five: The stalking issue

Admittedly, yes, Wheylan really would doubt that Dukemir would stalk them. However, the thought has definitely occured to them. They don't like looking at others in the eyes, and they don't like eyes being on them. They would question it at some point in the relationship, especially as it grows more obvious that Dukemir doesn't want them out of sight. But, well, like, I...I don't think it's going to take much to placate/convince Wheylan until, as Dream said, it gets EXTREMELY bad.

"I have something o' grave importance to confess, mine own dear duke. I fear I am haunted, watched by some greater being. I beseech thee, I pray you find a way to fix this and free mine own woeth"

When it gets this bad, we refer back to the point about Wheylan using their shadows to threaten Dukemir and being torn between hiding away (which won't be possible) and running back into Dukemir's arms because what other comfort do they truly have left?

Their somewhat idolized view of Dukemir is both completely shattered and completely evolved, twisting into some sick version of a knight in shining armor. Dukemir means well, he won't hurt Wheylan intentionally, he doesn't hurt Wheylan intentionally and that's infinitely better than Crownus...right?

Verdict: "Love is not love if it is through the lens of control."

At least it's not another specific pairing because that's even worse

Here's a doodle of Wheylan slowly changing overtime as the cage closes around them and they start mimicking what Dukemir looks like with his own twist to it and was totally not my excuse to draw Wheylan in anything but his usual clothes.