Peace on Earth

Reader is GN. Inspired by comments with @carebearcozy about Griffith being Griffith

It was Friday evening. You and Griffith always watched TV together to wind down at the end of the week. It was an occasion that could not be missed and all of your housemates never failed to respect it. The living room was yours. The TV was yours. Everything was going along just as it was supposed to ...

... except Griffith was distant, cold, and wouldn't talk to you. Not just that, but he wouldn't even look at you.

"Griffith?" you asked him.

No answer.

"Did you have a hard time at work today?"

"Hm."

"You don't want to talk to me at all, do you."

Griffith crossed his legs and bounced his thigh. "Yes. Is that not clear?"

"Why? What's going on?" You leaned closer to him, only for him to twist his lips and fold his arms.

"I took a look onto Corkus' browser."

"You what?"

"It isn't too difficult to sign into his IP address. He is careless and has the most simplistic password. It's corkus1999 with all lowercase letters if you care to take a peek for yourself."

"Griffith, that's horrible! How could you betray Corkus' privacy like that!"

Griffith glared your way. "He has been behaving strangely. Have you not noticed that it grew much quieter in this house the past few months? Our dear Corkus isolates himself in his room surrounded by suspicious activity."

"What do you mean, suspicious activity? Have you been spying on Corkus in his room? No. Don't answer that. You've hacked into his browser. It's obvious what you've been doing."

Griffith shifted in his seat with a "hmph" and stuck his nose in the air. "Our dear Corkus fiddles with himself for hours on end staring at his big screen monitor. Can you guess what he is watching? Or more precisely, who he is watching?"

"What?" you asked, almost offended by his question. "Do I look like the type to be able to list out porn stars?"

"Do not lie," Griffith said with a cold voice. "You are a porn star. I've seen your OnlyFans."

You fell silent. Your heart began to race as your head ached with the question of how Griffith found out. You were always extraordinarily careful with when you recorded, doing it at a rented studio after hours at work while you told Griffith that your shift was a couple hours longer than it actually was.

"Corkus has been watching you expose and degrade yourself online," Griffith said. "It is disgusting and I am appalled that you would broadcast yourself for degenerate strangers and perverts like Corkus to relieve themselves to."

"I --"

"I am ill with you. You belong to me and yet you betray my trust and our relationship through your virtual affairs."

"They aren't affairs, Griffith --"

"Then what are they?" His tongue was as sharp as venom. "Flirting with the camera while dressed in undergarments at the most? What else should I call that?"

"It's business!"

"Yes and so is dealing drugs, but high-value individuals such as us do not stoop to levels of filth."

"I --" You tensed your fists while Griffith's cold stare pressed down on you. "I've been low on money. You know I've been taking acting classes for about half a year, right?"

Griffith said nothing.

"Well, the cost of them adds up and I had to find some extra income to help pay for them. A colleague of mine suggested OnlyFans, and so I --"

"Why didn't you ask me for help?" He still sounded angry, but was noticeably more concerned now.

"I didn't want to burden you with it. It's my problem, not yours. And I know that you aren't really happy about me working towards starting an acting career."

Griffith looked away. "That's because I don't want filthy people to see you on stage or on the screen and lust after you. You're mine." He gripped himself at his upper arm, digging his fingers into his shirt as he drew his fingertips around his bicep. "And ... I don't want you to decide that you have to move away to London or New York or who knows where. My job is here. I wouldn't be able to move with you and I will not tolerate such a thing."

"Griffith ... it's not anything like that. And if it happens, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"No. We will not cross that bridge because it will never come."

You decided not to continue pressing on it. "Okay. Yeah."

"Our lives are here and our friends are here. It would hurt them if you moved away ... if you deserted us. Casca would cry. Judeau would get depressed. Guts would get arrested for picking a fight outside a bar. And Corkus ..." His eyes popped open wider. "I am going to kill Corkus."

"What!"

Griffith nodded. "It is what must be done after he saw so much of you." He stood up from the couch, clenching his jaw while he gave himself another attempted scratch across his upper arm. "My own friend. My own friend watched my partner striptease and degrade herself. My own friend touched his filthy dick and got off on it. Yes. He shall die."

"Griffith --!"

You tried to stop him, but you couldn't. He stormed off upstairs, his fists purple from how harshly he was clenching them.

"CORKUS!" you heard him yell.

Griffith never yelled. He never let himself snap like that, no matter how frustrated or furious he was.

Like, would he be loving, a bit condescending, both, or something else?

It's hard to get anything concrete about this guy. He's all over the place 😅

Husband Griffith (gender neutral s/o)

The big question is: Does he actually like his partner or did he get married for convenience?

Griffith is a charismatic and determined "actor", so he'd be able to go through the motions of being a loving husband even if he got married only for how the relationship would benefit him. If the marriage was any kind of necessary stepping stone for his dream, he couldn't have his partner suspect that something was up and get angry with him. He wouldn't do more than the Griffith-level bare minimum (which is still a lot), but he'd portray the perfect image of a husband while keeping his cool and polite demeanour. However, he would take the opportunities when available to be away longer than otherwise necessary. In the modern world, this could include taking on overtime at work or going on regular business trips. In the Berserk world, he'd claim that he required extra time to work on strategy plans, infrastructure mapping, or anything similar that he could pass off as urgent or semi-urgent matters. He'd make sure to love bomb his partner afterwards. It's easier for Griffith to take on short, intense spurts with his partner than to be less passionate and over the top over a longer period. He probably wouldn't cheat in the relationship, since it would be too risky for him and he's more in lust with what he can gain from the marriage than he is with any living being.

If Griffith actually liked his partner, the situation is very different. Instead of being a tool or stepping stone in his dream; his partner would be a major player in the desired end result. Griffith would discuss his dream and how he plans to get there openly. However, his dream is still his and even though he would label it as "our dream", it's still formed around what he wants. He doesn't take disagreement or criticism well and would be easily angered if his partner says they don't want the conditions that he's so bent on achieving. Griffith wouldn't get physically violent towards his partner in these cases, but he would gaslight and manipulate.

"I'm astonished at how ungrateful you are towards all I'm doing for us."

"Do you not believe in me? Do you think I'm incapable of achieving the great things we deserve?"

"I only want what's best for us. I'm doing this for you, so I can give you the life you deserve."

The thing is, Griffith wouldn't be intending to manipulate. If he didn't love his partner, then anything he does is a manipulative lie, but if he loves his partner, he doesn't intend to do such things and wouldn't even believe that he is doing it. Griffith genuinely thinks that his goals/dream is the best he can provide for his partner and that makes him all the more obsessed with achieving it perfectly without a single piece of it out of plan. This would go for both modern Griffith but especially for Berserk-world Griffith because the brutality and danger of that world raises the stakes for him to achieve so much higher.

Griffith would be vulnerable around his partner and would not hide his moments of self-harm. He'd also cry around his partner. However, if he's even once shamed or criticised for his vulnerability, he'll never show it again and will slowly start behaving in the relationship more like the version of him being with someone he doesn't actually love.

He'd still be the "perfect gentleman" as he would if he was married only for convenience, but there would be an underlying sincerity in his actions. When in public, he'd love to go over the top and constantly display to everyone that he loves his partner and that they belong to him. Griffith knows time and place, but he wouldn't shy away from public display of affection (though he'd never grope or do anything too sexual in front of others). In private, he'd almost always need to be touching his partner in one way or another (it can be playing with their hair, holding hands, rubbing their back, or full-out grabbing them, depending on the mood). Griffith would also be very silly and childish in private. He's a mischievous tease and it would be a relief for him to have someone he can unleash that part of him onto.

お買い物の時間♪ #チアリステイルズ