MODERN SAB!AU: nikolai returns home after several years of military service and starts looking for a job. aleksander finds out about this and offers to become his personal bodyguard.

The demon in the wood

You need to keep your people safe? Tear out pieces of your soul!

A girl tries to drown you? Offer her protection!

People keep trying to kill you? You get used to it!

“Neither do you,” I said. It wasn’t just the scars. He wore his weariness like an elegant cloak, but it was still there. Faint smudges showed beneath his eyes, and the hollows of his sharp cheekbones cut a little deeper.

“A small price to pay,” he said, his lips quirking in a half smile.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 1

Another creature burst forth, and then another. The Darkling cried out as it was wrenched from him. I felt it too, felt my heart constrict as each shadow soldier tore a little bit of me away, exacting the price of its creation.

…

This was not the Small Science. This was magic, something ancient, the making at the heart of the world. It was terrifying, limitless. No wonder the Darkling hungered for more.

…

Another monster. Another. Blood was pouring from the Darkling’s nose. The room seemed to rock, and I realized I was convulsing. I was dying, bit by bit, with every monster that wrenched itself free.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 23

He let a nichevo’ya form behind Azarov, towering and bewinged. Calling on merzost was painful, like a breath torn from his lungs, a moment of terror as his life was ripped away to form another. Creation. Abomination. But he was used to it by now.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 33

“I’m sorry,” she said. Her teeth were chattering, but her face was determined. “I need an amplifier.”

“Annika—”

“The elders would never let me hunt one. They’d give it to a powerful Grisha like Lev or his father.”

“Annika, listen to me—”

“My father can’t protect us.”

“I can protect you. We’re friends.”

Demon in the Wood

“You’re shaking,” he said.

“I’m not used to people trying to kill me.”

“Really? I hardly notice anymore.”

I turned to look at him. That trace of a smile was still there, but I wasn’t entirely sure he was kidding.

courtier: "Moi tsarevich?"

Nikolai: "Oh no, I'm Sturmhond, the famous privateer."

courtier: "Apologies, but you look just like late tsarevich Nikolai."

Nikolai: "Yeah, I get that a lot, but I'm ginger and much better looking, if we believe the Black Tsar himself."

courtier: "Well, certainly, I can see that now. Sturmhond, you said?"

Nikolai: "Please, call me Kolya."

courtier: "!!!"

~

courtier: "The likness, even your name... It's certainly curious, isn't it?"

Nikolai: "Oh please... half of the sailors is named after Saint Nikolai... Makes for riotous meetings and quite a challenge to command a crew."

~

courtier, sneakily: "Some might even want you to become the King..."

Nikolai: "Well, that can be arranged..."

Nikolai: *chatches Aleksander's eye across whole room*

Nikolai: *licks his lips seductively*

Nikolai: *winks*

A war in my name! Everyone's shouting my name!

2.)  #and probably other tsars tbh #and tsaritsas #and anybody who threatened him at a time when he could not reasonably fight back #any soldiers when he was younger that were going to kill him #anybody who might have revealed who he was to those who would do worse than kill him #literally anybody he thought he needed to #rape tw #just to be safe #i honestly think it is very reasonable to assume that it has happened to him in life #and that most bad things have happened to him at one point or another

3.)  #this is going into the objectification and dehumanization he has suffered his entire life #as grisha an amplifier and a shadow summoner #i think a lot about the way he navigates the world as a grisha and as someone who was raised to view the world the way women do

I’ve been pointing out his use of own body before.

Aleksander glanced back at the town. He had done worse to Novokribirsk at the start of the civil war. But he had been in control. The vampire had no master. It could not be reasoned with or seduced.

Rule of Wolves Chapter 33

And even the way he treates Genya, when she comes to him after the King starts his abuse, could point to certain personal experience.

I’d told myself I would be dignified. I would plead my case rationally. But when Ivan closed the door, I started to cry. The Darkling might have chastised me or turned his back. But he put his arm around me, sat me down at the table. He poured me a glass of water and waited until I was calm enough to take a gulping sip.

“Do not let them humble you,” he said softly.

I’d had a speech prepared, a hundred things I wanted to say. All of it went out of my head, and I sputtered the first thing that came into my mind. “I don’t want to wear this anymore,” I pleaded. “It’s a servant’s uniform.”

“It’s a soldier’s uniform.”

I shook my head, choking back another sob. He leaned forward and wiped the tears from my cheeks with the sleeve of his own kefta.

“If you tell me you cannot bear this, then I will send you from here and you need never wear those colors or walk the halls of the Grand Palace again. You will be safe, I promise you that.”

I looked up at him, not quite believing. “Safe?”

“Safe. But I can promise you this, too: You are a soldier. You could be my greatest soldier. And if you stay, if you can endure this, one day all will know it.” He lifted my chin with his finger. “Do you know the King once cut himself on his own sword?”

A little laugh escaped me. “He did?”

The Darkling nodded, the barest grin playing over his lips. “He wears it constantly—just for show, mind you. He forgets it is not a toy by his side, but a weapon.” His face grew serious. “I can promise you safety,” he said. “Or I can promise to see your suffering repaid a thousandfold.” With the pad of his thumb, he brushed a stray tear from beneath my eye. “You decide, Genya.”

The Tailor

He does his best to comfort her.

He tries to make her laugh. I used to do that, when my little brother cried and I didn’t know how to react. I’m a social idiot, Aleksander’s badly socialized child.

He gives her a choice, doesn’t decide FOR her. I’ve had antis arguing he should’ve send her away immediately, but Genya is no longer a naive child- the King and Queen made sure of it- and she obviously feels powerless. He gives her power over her own future- as much as he can.

Nikolai: "Aleksander Ilyich Morozov! We need to talk!"

Aleksander: ???

Nikolai: "Have you been lying to me about YOUR AGE?!"

Aleksander: "You have to understand, Grisha in my position..."

Nikolai: "I knew I'm dating an older man, but I didn't know I'm dating EVEN OLDER ~OLDER~ MAN!"

later that night:

Aleksander: *crying into a pillow*

Aleksander, wailing: "I'm OLD!"

all I did, I did for Ravka. all I did, I did for You.