morals optional

i use the dottolone tag exclusively mainly because i think it just sounds better of the two ship names LOL. panttore sounds too much like panettone idk...

in my mind they are both vers/switch with it being like a 60-40 split on who tops, with dottore topping more frequently. but i also don’t see topping as exclusively penetration if that makes sense? so that may be skewing the ratio a bit.

i make reference to NPD and clinical psychopathy occasionally in the series, and i try to leave it ambiguous as to who is who to leave room for the reader’s personal interpretation, but my view is that dottore is the narcissist and pantalone is the psychopath, and this informs how they both see and use sex.

(this is also part of the reason why i initially thought dottore was the smoker and pantalone was the alcoholic but i won’t get into that unless you want me to bc this is already gonna be a long response sorry i love to yap aklsrkdgjdjg)

BUT, in my head, i don’t think dottore and pantalone actually have sex that often??? it's definitely one of the many transactions they exchange within their relationship, but it's not the only one. nowhere close. but they’re both to old and sad and hurt and pathetic to admit it. it’s also a lot easier for them to classify the benefits of their relationship as strictly tangible (funding/sex/elixir/etc..) so that’s what they do.

also, i hc dottore as demi with low libido who mainly uses sex as an outlet for anger/remorse/sadness/hatred/all the emotions he wants to repress but can’t because he is — as previously mentioned — a sad sad pathetic old man with a fragile narcissistic ego. in my mind this also means that by the time dottore felt sexual attraction for pantalone, it was already over for him; he just doesn’t know it yet LMFAO.

anyways because i hc dottore as using sex as an outlet for emotions, i just naturally see him as being more forceful when he does want to engage since he feels more strongly (even though he pretends not to LOL) dottore is a very emotional man and it bleeds through in everything he does, especially something as vulnerable as sex.

even so, i don’t think pantalone lets him take the reigns unconditionally. pantalone ironically sees sex wayyyyyy more objectively than dottore. pantalone is more willing to bottom (or be penetrated in general tbh) because (outside of the fact that he physically enjoys it lmfao) he understands what dottore gets from it, physically, and relents because it doesn’t interfere with what pantalone gains from it personally. it’s kinda like when someone sees another person throwing a tantrum and humors them for their own amusement/ego.

pantalone is also a tad bit more emotionally regulated and his sense of self-control isn’t contingent on minor things, even though he is a major control freak (like…. pantalone is confident in how meticulously he has crafted himself and his environment that he does not see being less forceful as a loss of control).

BUT. i also think that this means that when pantalone does feel threatened by power dynamics, he will immediately flip the switch and dottore will probably just go with it because he doesn’t feel like dealing with pantalone’s crash out.(...but also i think that they sometimes fight viciously over who gets to top when they’re both in a rotten mood and hmgnhnghnnn i might write that actually aslkjdakj (lying))