#*concepts

aahhh what an interesting question!!! let’s see...

childe is the first to fall in love. you remind him so much of his siblings, fragile little beings in constant need of his love and protection. he is a man with little interest in romance, so his love for darling is fueled in large part by an existing love he has for his siblings, as he sees them in darling. it’s only when darling’s presence in his life begins making him feel...different does he realize that perhaps this isn’t the type of love he thought he felt. his desire to ruin them, to betray their trust and bind darling to him in a way that the other harbingers can’t, is one that makes him the most dangerous of the harbingers. his morals are so low that it makes you wonder how far he’ll go to make you his.

arlecchino is a close second. she does not let others in easily, but the moment she saw you, all she could feel was pity. as the days turned to weeks, that pity did not fade, because no matter how you’d managed to capture the harbingers’ affections, you are nothing more than a normal, pathetically weak civilian. you remind her so much of the abused and abandoned kids that end up in her orphanage... except you are not afforded the luxuries they are. they are free to grow and to learn, to find family and forge friendships, to go and come as they please so long as they pledge their lives to the tsaritsa. but you... all she can describe you as is a bird trapped in a small, rounded cage. your world is so small, and she wants nothing more than to steal you away to a world where you can be hers, one where you are always under her control and her constant watch.

dottore takes the longest to fall in love because he finds the purpose of love useless. it is an emotion that compels lifeforms to act recklessly and selflessly, and while those parameters do have a place in his research, they disgust him. what dottore feels for you isn’t love, but rather a fond affection like one might have for an amusing pet. losing you wouldn’t damage him too much (he’d miss you of course, but he’d never admit it), and dottore has little willpower to constantly fight for your attentions or affections like the others. his love for darling is more akin to a platonic love, one whose company he can tolerate where he can talk about whatever he sees fit. just.. don’t be fooled. platonic love or not, dottore doesn’t care if his actions come off as anything resembling ‘romantic love’ (which, to your bewilderment, sometimes does). you are something he keeps around for his own curiosity and amusement, nothing more than an experiment for his sick fantasies. the bruises and gauze on your body prove that much.

overall, i think the order would go like this:

childe

arlecchino

columbina

pantalone

scaramouche / pierro *

sandrone

capitano

dottore

outside of childe and arlecchino who fall in “love” with you almost instantly, the harbingers merely feel an intense obsession with darling (columbina, dottore, pierro, childe, scaramouche) or desire to control them (pantalone, sandrone, arlecchino, capitano). the first to truly fall “in love” with darling, at least by the definition of putting darling’s needs above their own, is arlecchino, but even she is a control freak who would slowly descend back into her perfectionism once darling is safely within her control.

bonus:

* scaramouche and pierro do fall in love... but their love isn’t love for you.

in scaramouche’s case, his ‘love’ is one of delusion and hatred... paradoxically so. he does not ‘love’ you for any genuine feelings, though it isn’t quite true to say he doesn’t harbor any genuine affections for you either. sometimes, he finds himself feeling... at peace within your arms. as if the outside world fades away and nothing more can harm him again. but even then, he does not love you, because all you are is a vessel through which he can maybe, possibly, come to love himself.

THE LOML ?? BUT MAKE IT DARK??? IM READY (def ooc tys)

send me thoughts and blurb requests here!

So Lewis was obviously the one asking Seb out. It happened when they stood on the podium together after a close win for Lewis, smiling, laughing, Seb spraying most of the champagne over Lewis' head with that gorgeous bright smile on his face and Lewis didn't even register he was blurting out the words to ask Seb out on a date. Max quickly turned away, the tips of his ears glowing red and Seb was so confused for a moment that he just stared at Lewis for a few seconds, before nodding his head, grinning like an idiot. It still took them about five weeks before they found a day where both of them could do, made only harder because Seb literally never checks his phone and Lewis had to ask Britta for his hotel number to knock and ask Seb if he was free the next night. Sebastian obviously thought it was endearing as hell.

The next evening, Lewis waited in front of Seb's door again, so nervous that he couldn't stay still, fumbling on the seam of his shirt. Sebastian was a bit more calm, but don't make a mistake, he was nervous as well. He's been pining for Lewis for at least three years now and where the Brit was openly nervous, Sebastian’s nervousness shone through his loud and never ending stream of words stumbling out of his mouth. Lewis only smiled at that though and when they finally areived at the restaurant, where Lewis had made sure they had a secluded place, Seb has grown more calm and confident.

They had most of their dinner in silence, not because they didn't know what to talk about, but because they couldn't stop smiling at each other and when Seb ordered dessert for both of them, he nearly jumped when he felt Lewis' hand on his knee. Lewis asked him about his favourite place in Switzerland, Seb asked Lewis about his favourite park in New York and sometime during that his hand found its way on top of Lewis', their fingers intertwining. It madr both their hearts beat so fast that they feared the whole restaurant would be able to hear it, but it stayed between the two of them.