alex

I've always wanted to get a shot of Esquie hugging the two of them, and when I saw @assan08 's little story, I finally made it happen! Thank you!

"Give me a kiss and I'll go."

Ending [B]roken Promises

⚠️ WARNING NOT A HAPPY ENDING ⚠️

“Verso… what are you doing?”

Gustave yells out but verso continues after Maelle in the portal.

“He’s not actually thinking… “ Gustave whispers to himself. “no not with what he said at the meadows there’s no way”…

When Gustave emerges from the other side of the portal he sees Verso towering over Maelle, ready to eject her from the canvas, with no guarantee of protection from Renoir the canvas was doomed without her here.

“Verso…” Gustave slowly approaches the other man, glancing at the child painting on the floor ignoring the chaos around him.

“Verso… what are you doing?” He repeats.

“Gustave! She… she’s not going to leave… Renoir will destroy the canvas as soon as she leaves and she *wont* leave!”

“I don’t understand… there’s no reason why she can’t stay here with us…”

“She’s dying Gustave!”

“What?”

“She’s going to die if she stays in here…”

“But your mom was here for 70 years and she was fine…” Gustave tries to reassure Verso “she can stay here while we figure out a way to convince Renoir to keep the canvas in tact when she leaves, this isn’t the only solution Verso please let’s solve this together.”

“No. We know Maman is alive we don’t know if she’s fine.” Verso stands his ground. Pointing his sword towards Gustave as a gesture. “ I love you Gustave but we don’t matter like she does. All we will do is give her more reasons to stay. No I’m breaking the cycle.”

He moves to send Maelle out of the canvas but Gustave moves to stand in the way.

“We can find a way to break the cycle and keep the canvas verso… please”. Gustave tries to reason but Versos mind is set.

“No Gustave. She’s leaving one way or another. This was always the plan.”

Always the plan?

Gustave is stunned. After everything they’ve been through and shared… was all of that a lie? Of course it was. Verso was a master of masks, hiding truths within lies. And Gustave unfortunately fell for another lie.

Gustave points his gun at verso.

“How could you let Maelle repaint us if you only were going to see us destroyed anyway?” He blurts out.

“If I had known this was the path she was going to take trying to stay instead of leave, I wouldn’t have let her!”

Silence falls between them. Absolutely deafening. Everything they had shared after he had been repainted flashes before Gustave’s eyes.

His voice is shaking. It’s taking everything in him to keep his composure.

“I’m sorry Verso I won’t stand by and let you destroy us. If you need to be destroyed to be happy then… well…. ”

Gustave aims his gun at the other man “let me be the one to do it. You’re not taking the rest of us with you. We WILL continue. Without you.”

“Fine, we’re all doomed here anyway… ”. Verso readies his weapon.

The trust Gustave had in Verso is broken.

Verso’s and Gustave’s relationship will not progress any further.

Relationship Level: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4🌶️ | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9🌶️|

Heatwave

Gustave and Verso meet in the garden of the Dessendre manor. After the last events, they can properly talk to each other.

There's only one Esquie ...

(I imagine Verso strolling over to Esquie, asking for a hug, but when he opens his arms, Gustave's already there, occupying the space. But Monoco is out hunting an especially interesting foot, and Verso NEEDS a hug.

They very awkwardly try to avoid contact, but Esquie knows his Verver, and it has not escaped him how flustered he is around the nicest human, and so he hugs them a bit tighter than usual, cramping them together even more.

Nothing spectacular happens this night (they never would, with Esquie being there), but when everyone wakes up in the morning, they find our two warriors snuggling, quietly snoring, Gustave's arm draped over Verso's chest in a way that says mine.

Relationship Level 10

Ending [A] Life to Live For

“And that’s why the chroma here isn’t as intense as the areas around it”. Gustave is quite proud of his explanation however Verso doesn’t seem focused on the words. Rather he is focused on the man in front of him.

“What?” Gustave turns to him with a smirk. “Surprised someone who hasn’t been in the canvas as long knows as much or dare I say *more* than you?”

Verso laughs and shakes his head playfully.

It’s been a few months since Maelle was able to convince Renoir to leave the canvas. After gaining the knowledge of the canvas Gustave had been restless to discover all its ticks and secrets. Verso pounced on the opportunity to explore more of the continent with Gustave, alone, without any potential interruption. It was perfect.

And right now this moment was perfect. Just like all the other moments alone with Gustave before this. Once again Verso finds himself admiring the beauty of the man in front of him, but this time Gustave looks at him with love in his eyes.

“Just admiring” Verso smiles.

“Well come on we have to test a little higher on the cliffs. I have a theory that the chroma will get stronger when we are higher up there specifically but it’s still a theory.” Gustave points and before Verso can register his words Gustave starts moving towards his next destination.

Verso laughs and follows as he reflects how happy and lucky he is to be alive with the man ahead of him.

Relationship Level: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4🌶️ | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9🌶️|