1, 8, 15 for the ask game 🕊️ (hope I’m not too late)
Thank you so much for the questions! And it's never too late don't worry!!! I love yapping about these two ♡
Warning: Long post ahead!
🤍 1: What made you first ship them?
Honestly I think it was the fact that because they're both in proximity to each other, it really made me think about their dynamic - about their differences and potential, about what they’d say and do with each other etc. which then led to me shipping them! A basic answer but yeah, that's how it started!
🍴 8: Who makes the bigger romantic gestures?
Clive. He’s rich and has so many connections meaning he can make almost anything happen if he wills for it, so he uses this privilege to splurge on things like the most expensive wines and fine dining experiences on their outings together
To Clive, these aren't romantic gestures… he tells himself he's only doing all that to butter Dimitri up, to make the man more susceptible to his manipulations, but no amount of denial can make the constant trips to the most luxurious restaurants (where only couples choose to dine, might I add) not look suspicious to both every onlooker and Dimitri LOL. Clive’s feelings for Dimitri are definitely part of the reason he does this though, even if he's too adamant on hating all the scientists to admit it
And Dimitri’s displays definitely aren’t small or nonexistent - he’s always gifting Clive bouquets of flowers he picked and arranged himself, embracing Clive after long and stressful days, taking mental notes of all of his likes and dislikes, setting the mood with scented candles etc… it's just that unfortunately he’s quite poor (well that's how I see him at least) and so can't choose to invest in the expensive stuff like Clive does… so despite his efforts his gestures end up looking reallyyy small in comparison, even though they’re incredibly romantic!
🖋️ 15: What’s something they love to do together?
Dimitri isn't one for stimulating environments or socialising with many people (meaning that much to Clive’s dismay, the casino is a no-go for their outings), so I imagine they’d love doing quiet activities like solving crosswords and sudoku together in the morning while their tea or coffee wakes them up, real domestic shit.
Clive is probably better at the crosswords due to his background in reporting, while Dimitri is probably better at sudoku because he stares at equations and measurements all day while trying to reconstruct the time machine, so they’d end up helping each other solve them - with Clive helping Dimitri with the crosswords and Dimitri helping Clive with sudoku
I also think they’d love going to the Thames’ Arms together. Dimitri would close the pub so that it would be only the two of them in there... talking about concepts and life until the early hours of morning while they sample Dimitri’s various cocktail experiments
Alsooo even though I did mention earlier that they’d dine at fancy restaurants together, I don't think it would be something they'd both enjoy. Clive would be focused on trying to make every detail of their experience the best it could be because of his perfectionist nature, and even though deep down he has feelings for Dimitri, he views these outings as a job first and foremost rather than as dates. And Dimitri would always start to feel out of place in the environment; he’d notice how everyone is visibly richer than him and how the food, while amazing, is of a much higher quality than he’d ever be able to afford in his lifetime. It’d bring a lot of stress to them both, unfortunately
