#Maxime Laurent

[gojossotoru]

Introducing the smart jock

Full name: Maxime Alain Laurent

Nicknames: Max (called by most people who know him, including the jocks in Bullworth Academy. He doesn't mind but he's quite annoyed that they called him that instead of 'Maxime'), One-Eyed Laurent (called by almost everyone in Bullworth Academy due to his left eye covered up with an eye patch. He hates it and is really annoyed by the nickname because he wants to be known as something else and not as that)

Preferred name: Maxime

Age: 16

Birthdate: September 28th

Sexuality: straight

Height: 5'8"

Race: white

Ethnicity: French

Appearance: curly light brown hair, pale skin, dark brown eyes, black eye patch covering his left eye

Clique: Jocks

Likes: reading, quietness, calm music, bakery, the smell of food, studying, getting good grades, sunny days, practicing, books, learning about history, nice people, being honest, dark humor, fighting against bad people (and that includes bullies), chocolate, good cologne, French New Wave, old movies, vintage clothes, taking care of his face, painting, museum, dancing, good odor, showering, library, spicy food, winning, talking bad about someone he hates, sports, loyalty, raining, kittens, cleanliness, sleeping, family, long hours drive

Dislikes: bad people, losing, someone insulting his left eye, the preps, someone mocking his French accent, the prefects, Mr. Burton, Mr. Hattrick, uncompleted homework, trying to understand something but fail to, winter, forcing him to do something, cringy comedy movies, detentions, very dark places, sweating, bad flirting, dumbass people (including his fellow jocks), unnecessary dramas, not the eating, forced interactions, people not helping him, backstabbers, dogs, immature people, people complain about anything, false informations, the color orange

Hobbies: playing sports, listening to music, reading books at the library, watching old French moves

Nerds reputation + status: 60%

Preps reputation + status: 12%

Greasers reputation + status: 48%

Jocks reputation + status: 75%

Bullies reputation + status: 0%

Non-cliques reputation + status: 73%

Townies reputation + status: 0%

Best friend(s): Casey Harris, Juri Karamazov

Friends/Acquaintances: Pete Kowalski (he's not very sociable guy 😭)

Enemies: the preps

Love interest: ?

Tropes: ?

______________________________

Backstory:

He was born in Paris, France to François Laurent and Agnés Laurent (neé Garnier). Although he looks like the type to be born in an old money family or maybe a rich family but it is not an old money type, he's actually from a working middle class family, his father is a chef while his mother is a surgeon. Growing up, Maxime was a pretty normal child and didn't have any problems in school except for his grades, so that's when he started to study harder after getting scolded from his parents. He was popular in middle school for playing sports and has won several competitions, 3 gold medals and 1 silver. At the start of high school, he was already popular with the girls due to his looks and he doesn't care about it. Literally almost every girl confessed to him about their feelings towards him and he rejected every one of them, because he thought they were 'not the one' for him. On March 12th, a horrible accident occurred. When Maxime was eating in the cafeteria, one of the bullies who was a prep, Pierre began to push him off of the seat and yell at him fiercely. It was because the prep's girlfriend, Amélie confessed to Maxime about her feelings towards him and how she's in love with him but Maxime rejected her because he knows that she's with the prep and he doesn't want any problems with him. Pierre saw the two together and thought that Amélie was cheating on him with Maxime but Pierre was very wrong and didn't think any further. Maxime yelled at Pierre back, telling him that he's not with her and Pierre got the wrong idea but he didn't believe Maxime and Pierre punched him in the face. The two fight while the rest in the cafeteria begins to cheer and some of the people who are not cheering are frightened. The rage got to Pierre and he grabbed the fork that is on Maxime's tray and he stabbed him in his left eye, which made the rest of the people who cheered stopped and gasped. Maxime was screaming in pain and the teachers immediately came to the cafeteria, he was later sent to a hospital with his parents. After going to the hospital, he came back to school two days later with a black eye patch that is covering his left eye and you would think people will not bother him for it but... You're wrong. His classmates would sometimes make fun of him and also the prep, Pierre still holds a grudge against him while Amélie had moved on from Maxime. His parents on the other hand had planned to move to the United States for a fresh start even before the March 12th incident. So days later, they moved out of their home and they moved to Bullworth, New England, United States. On his first day of school at Bullworth Academy, many students stared at him due to his eye patch and he was having a resting bitch face that he always has. He later joined the Jocks clique because at least he had in common with the jocks and he finds them kind of amusing in a funny way, in his opinion all of them (except for Mandy just a little bit) are dumbasses. And the rest is history

______________________________

Personality:

He's an introvert, doesn't really like to talk with people that much but he still talks to them in small talks. He never goes to parties or any sociable events unless it's prom or someone asks him to go there with them, and if he goes, he would probably just sit down on the floor or lean against the wall, staring at random people while drinking from a cup in his hand. He doesn't really trust people and he judges them based on their appearance and rumors about them, whether it's false or not, he doesn't give a damn. And if that person reminds him of someone he used to know and hate back in his old school then he would hate them the same way like he hates that one person (or several people) back in school in France. Maxime is academically smart, meaning he's very good at almost every subject and some might say that he's a studying addict (which is not true btw), he really cares about his grades and hoping he would As on every test he takes. He's very honest since he believes that lying is a sin, that includes what he thinks about people he likes or he doesn't like and it can really break someone's heart, he never sugarcoated honesty and it almost gets him in trouble. Although he's a jock, he's not sport obsessed, he just enjoys playing sports and he loves participating in sports competitions. Besides sports, he likes to play the piano, something he really enjoys so much and once he won a competition back in middle school (he got a gold medal). Most girls think of him as a 'gentleman' due to his very good manners, when he sees something on a girl's mouth he's with, he would wipe it off with his thumb and act like it's a normal thing to do... Without knowing that the girl would go blushing like crazy. And he also pulls out a chair that is under the table for a girl to sit on, even though the girl can do it herself but he doesn't care at all, and also the girls would be giggling or whispering towards each other while Maxime doesn't notice them nor even take a hint that they have crush on him (or even falling in love), he's just so clueless. He's pretty good at fighting, but he will hesitate because he doesn't want to get into trouble and will try to find a way out of a situation without violence but if a person deserves it then he would fight. Most people would find him 'creepy' because of Maxime's habit of looking at random people with his cold stare (that's his resting face lol) and it's him with an eye patch that makes it creepy, the reason why he stares at people is because he's bored and seeing people interacting and talking to other people entertains him

Overall, Maxime is pretty much different from the jocks but however, most people find him creepy

______________________________

Infos about Maxime:

--- he plays American football and although he never plays it before becoming a student in Bullworth Academy, he learns very quickly for a week

--- he's available (for the explanation of '?' on the love interest part and the trope part)

--- he speaks French and English (but he insults people in French)

--- he hates the preps SO so much, especially Derby because he reminds Maxime of Pierre and sometimes he would accidentally call Derby 'Pierre'

--- his left eye doesn't hurt that much but if someone pokes it or he accidentally pokes it, he would winces in pain and wait for 30 seconds for the pain to go away but if it keeps poke by someone (or himself accidentally) then he would have to wait for 2 minutes for the pain to go away

--- he's catholic and so are his family but him and his parents are not highly religious

--- his favorite film is Pierrot le Fou

--- if he's in the library, he would be studying or reading a book (or maybe staring at the nerds...)

--- sometimes he wears a varsity jacket and sometimes he doesn't if it's a sunny day because he hates being hot and sweating

--- girls would arguably consider Maxime to be one of the most beautiful guys in Bullworth while others disagree and finds him creepy just like the rest of the most people

--- he doesn't really screw around with girls who have boyfriends (especially Lola Lombardi) after the March 12th incident and has been very careful of interacting with girls (whether they have a boyfriend or not, he doesn't know but still is careful just in case). If Lola (or any other girls who have a boyfriend that he knows of) tries to flirt with him, he would ignore and walk away from them while bumping their shoulders roughly on purpose. Maxime is most uncomfortable with Lola, because of knowing about her boyfriend Johnny Vincent who's... Crazy about her and the rumors surrounding him and Lola

--- he and Juri have one thing in common, which are their accents. Juri has a Russian accent while Maxime has a French accent and both of them are thick

--- he loves painting and considering to be a painter as his future career but he also wants to be an athlete. HE CAN'T CHOOSE 😭

--- loves chocolate, would not go a day without it (but he does balance eating them because it's NOT healthy to be eating it everyday)

--- HATES MR. BURTON!!! Doesn't really understand why that bitch has not been fired yet

--- loves hearing school dramas, even if it's false because it's so interesting to him

--- he's allergic to peaches

--- he's not against the nerds and he would protect them from the jocks bullying them (the jocks didn't kick him out because of this due to Maxime being the best player in the American football team). But at the same time, Maxime does dislike Earnest and sometimes he would ignore him if he gets bullied unless the bullying goes extreme, then he would help Earnest out

--- he would buy food outside of the school for lunch instead of eating Edna's cooking

--- always wears cologne everyday!!! And it smells the best

--- would literally make someone scared of him (NOT EVERYONE THOUGH) by simply looking at them in the eyes

--- when it comes to March 12th, he would be in his worst mood yet and be more bitchy (+ cold) towards anyone than usual

--- he paints random people in his free time. But if someone asks him to paint them, they would have to charge him for 20 bucks but if it's a prep, then they would have to charge him for 150 bucks

--- used to be a swimmer back in Paris but after moving to Bullworth, he started to play American football just for funsies and wants to try different sports (and another reason for it is because of his left eye situation)

______________________________

(from the maker of the oc)

Hiii <333

Okay so I lied to y'all and I blame my mind for this. And also, I really hope that Tumblr has a custom color update for the text because I've run out of using every single color for it😭

Anyways, I hope you like him and the filter is from lovelogs on Polarr for the filter on my moodboard. The faceclaim is Vassili Schneider as Joseph Descamps from Mixte 1963

Bye 💖

[fairyk133]

I'm not sure why but I wonder what are your favorite ocs in bully fandom? :3

( @preppiesenjoyer )

Your Margert, I feel like she might be a good antagonist towards Ruth, since I know we get bored of the ,"everyone love everyone" type of Oc interactions. I'm interested in their enemies HC's. I can see that they would be forced to be near each other, since Ruth still is associated with Preps, being in Mock Trial and being Parker's girlfriend/ and ex, along with the fact they have seen her work at Aquaberry, and where it, along with seeing her play piano or violin at "Amour Luve", a fancy restaurant she get's paid a lot from. I can see Margert saying, "She's not one of us, she works there, we shop there, trust me when I say she's just trying to be like us", which if FAR from the truth. Ruth doesn’t wanna be acknowledged as a prep due to her past of seeing what the rich can do to people, she hated it.

@lyalagushkina's Holly, I wonder how her life was in Catholic school. Considering the fact Ruth also went to a private all girls Catholic school. And I wanna know if its true that Catholic creates mean girls, which might explain Holly's nasty personality, which I love dearly. Ruth is pretty and mean herself, which is because of the school she went to. It shaped her up as the vile, so called apathetic woman we know today.

I also liked her "Nacy" girl, but I believe she not really made as an official OC, but I loved her design and she's so cute and UGHH! Plus, the creator is an amazing artist, she knows how to use the personalities of Bully characters and show it out in her drawings, like giving Pinky and sharp nose and making her tall, Betrice slim and awkward, she's is just so amazing.

@aubreylikesmith's main oc Azia, I already have a funny meme in my head for her and Ruth, she already gave me an Ask, so I wanted to ask her more on her character and mine so I don't misinterpret hers. Plus, her design is hella cool, very spunky and rad. I'm suprised Gary bagged that. -.__-. I still am. Anyway's, Azia seems pretty cool, I want to know more of her history and problems.

@sergeantcowboy's crow, his backstory is really sad. But, he make sense to me, he rebels against the school's morals because of his rough life. The creator gives depth into Crow, which I only see sometimes with other people Oc's (No shade U.U). Bro gave us his report card, facts that he forges ID'S for students! Plus his voice claim fits him SO FREAKING GOOOOD! Overall, amazing character, put him in a movie, or show, I'd watch it.

@biohazardtx's Herald and Rebecca, t-totally not because I openly simp for both of them... anyways, Herald, more interested in his problems in health and how he views situation with Mandy. Rebecca's backstory, it's almost similar to Ruth's but it mainly cause I see them as mother and daughter duo. I was also interested in their Antonio, he has a burned scar and he looks so cool, I wanna know everything!

@gojossotoru's Maxime, his character is well written, his backstory makes sense, along with the fact this man maybe, just maybe got ptsd. Just saying. Well thought out, plus, hes fineee. I do like the character Lynette, she has similar thing's with Ruth also.

And in conclusion, my bad for glazing.

[maximalismdaybyday]

Source

[paran0idprincess]

Hottie toddy in hand

[vorbarrsultana]

predictably, this is what convinced me to search for TWILIGHT MUSICAL of all things at 11:30 pm

X

[tv-moments]

Lupin

Season 3, “Chapter 3”

Director: Daniel Grou

DoP: Maxime Cointe

[strathshepard]

Celine Vivod by Maxime Froge, Puss Puss Magazine

[philoursmars]

Je reviens sur ce mois de septembre passé en rééducation après mon opération du genou, à Roncq, près de Tourcoing (Nord).

Eh oui, j'ai eu des visites !!

Laurent, venu en vélo de Douai (!!!), Maxime, mon jeune ex-collègue ("ex", car je suis en retraite depuis le 1er octobre!) qui me sortira deux dimanches pour faire un peu de tourisme (prochains posts, à venir...) et Audrey et Al, venus comme Laurent représenter l'Atelier du Tigre !

[sol-faerie]

x

[guycourtheoux]

MENOPAUSE une comédie en musique d'Alex Goude, c'est au Grand Point Virgule et on se régale de bout en bout

Le fléau, que vous pouvez découvrir dans les jardins du Palais Royal, n’est pas un spectacle comme un autre, loin s’en faut. En fait nous ne sommes pas spectateurs dans une salle de spectacle. Nous sommes des promeneurs qui suivent un récit. Voilà un semblant d’explication. Lisez ce texte : Vous avez maintenant une idée de ce que vous allez voir, je vous propose donc de rencontrer Léonard Maton…

[eridonna]

The official Russian Production of Roméo et Juliette / Мюзикл «Ромео и Джульетта» is set to premiere at the St. Petersburg Theatre of Musical Comedy (Muzcomedy)

This version is also directed/produced by KERO © Rómeó és Júlia (Hungary) so most likely it will be similar in staging to the one in Budapest Operetta Theatre.

Main Cast:

Romeo — Nikita Braga, Aleksandr Kazmin, Vladislav Getze

Juliette — Aleksandra Kasparova, Polina Belyaeva

Le Prince de Vérone — Kirill Gordeev, Dmitry Ermak, Ivan Ozhogin, Vladimir Yarosh

Mercutio — Ruslan Iskenderov, Nikita Slednev

Benvolio — Artem Mizhenkov, Andrey Suntsov

Tybalt — Stanislav Baksaraev, Maxim Kazakov

Frère Laurent — Rostislav Kolpakov, Ivan Ozhogin, Aleksandr Sukhanov

La Nurse — Agata Vavilova, Elena Gazaeva

The lineups along with the final cast will be updated here.

[gojossotoru]

Maxime's grades in Bullworth Academy

MATH: A+

CHEMISTRY: A

BIOLOGY: A

GEOGRAPHY: A-

PHOTOGRAPHY: A

ENGLISH: B-

MUSIC: B+

ART: A+

SHOP: C

GYM: A

Credits to lovelogs on Polarr for the filter on my moodboard <333

[thickenmyblood]

why did laurent start dating / having sex with maxime, even before nicaise found out? maybe this is something we find out in ch. 20, but throughout hiuh i’ve really struggled to understand or empathize with laurent in this area. you’ve mentioned him being self-destructive, or how it was good for his ego to bring a date in front of damen. but why did he feel the need to throw it in damen’s face when damen was the one who got dumped? why would he let maxime call him baby and walk all over his boundaries when this guy is a total stranger? i know some people have speculated that maxime is a uncle-stand in, but to me that doesn’t parallel bc there the abuse happened because laurent did (unfortunately) love and trust his uncle at the beginning, which enabled his uncle to abuse him. i’m honestly really trying to see where this sexual self-harm aspect of laurent comes from when it’s with a complete stranger who doesn’t seem to like laurent as a person or give him any real affection. he said sex was the foundation of their relationship, which seems odd for an ascetic person like laurent who even in hiuh canon doesn’t seem to have engaged in that kind of relationship before dating damen, when he was in a way worse physical and emotional state, unless i’m wrong.

i really, really hope this doesn’t come off as criticizing or accusatory in any way — it is your story and you can characterize laurent any way you want! to me it’s felt like this is the one area so far where laurent has been extremely defensive and refuses to take responsibility, even though it really hurt damen — not just being jealous, but being compared to maxime over and over again by laurent’s friends and implicitly by laurent himself — not to mention how it hurt nicaise. yes, damen had flings, but he didn’t try to replace laurent after two months or ever shove it in laurent’s face. and yet it feels like damen over-apologizes for ever asking about maxime or suggesting laurent’s behavior was harmful. i don’t see how damen could get over this massive insecurity when laurent appears to ridicule or dismiss him for bringing it up, like with the condom conversation or the pet name issue.

feel free to ignore this message, but always appreciate hearing why you chose a particular characterization!

hello! i get this question every once in a while so i thought i'd answer it today since we're about to be done with the story. i didn't take it as an attack or anything and it's a very cool question!

but why did he feel the need to throw it in damen’s face when damen was the one who got dumped?

in a way, reading your ask, i think you answered some of these things yourself. why did he bring maxime to a bunch of events knowing damen would be there? because he wanted the upper hand, he wanted to be seen as having moved on (remember that he thinks damen has moved on, too), because it's an ego thing. but why do it if he was the one who dumped damen? same answers, but i'd add that it's implied in the story that laurent was surprised and hurt by how easily damen went along with the break up. laurent brings it up, says he can't do it anymore, and damen just goes to work and never comes back. once again, in a toxic and insecure way, there was a part of laurent that wanted damen to fight for it, to say "wait, let's turn things around" or something. obviously, that didn't happen, and laurent interpreted that as confirmation of a lot of negative thoughts he was already dealing with (damen wants out of this but he doesn't know how to do it, damen's too "nice" to say that he wants out, damen is looking for excuses to start arguments bc he's trying to get me to end this, etc.)

this is not me justifying laurent in any way. was it childish and immature to bring maxime to events bc he knew damen would be there and he wanted, along with all the reasons listed above, to make damen jealous? yes, probably. is it petty? yes. is it ooc? i don't know. i think laurent does exhibit some pettiness in the books.

why would he let maxime call him baby and walk all over his boundaries when this guy is a total stranger? i know some people have speculated that maxime is a uncle-stand in, but to me that doesn’t parallel bc there the abuse happened because laurent did (unfortunately) love and trust his uncle at the beginning, which enabled his uncle to abuse him. i’m honestly really trying to see where this sexual self-harm aspect of laurent comes from when it’s with a complete stranger who doesn’t seem to like laurent as a person or give him any real affection.

this part of the question is a bit more complicated for me to explain. i 100% agree with people's complaints that in this aspect hiuh laurent is ooc (compared to canon laurent). in the books, he doesn't sleep with anyone but damen, so everything regarding laurent/other men is always going to be ooc in some way (unless it's non con, i suppose).

maxime has to be a stranger. maxime has to be someone laurent doesn't care about, doesn't value, doesn't respect. it would never work between them if maxime was not a stranger, which is ultimately what happens in the fic (let's, for a second, ignore the fact that they also don't work out bc lamen are in love lol). when maxime wants more, laurent cuts him out.

why does he have to be a stranger? because hiuh laurent's biggest issue in this story is that he can't be vulnerable enough to be loved and accept that love. he loved damen, but he couldn't get to a level of vulnerability that allowed him to explain himself, to show himself to damen as he really is, and without that a relationship can't last. when you feel like you have to hide parts of yourself from the person you love, eventually that turns into resentment and anger and hurt.

when he starts sleeping with maxime, he's not looking for another boyfriend. he's not looking for love. he's not sleeping with maxime because he's too horny to function either. he lets maxime fuck him because there is something to prove. and here I have to apologize because to me this detail was so clear during my writing process that I'm only now realizing I did not do a good enough job of integrating it EXPLICITLY into the story. what is there to prove? laurent has only ever slept with two people in his life and only damen was a pleasurable, consensual situation. so, here's the setting: laurent and damen break up, they go no contact, months pass, laurent is STRUGGLING (nicaise mentions this time and time and time again in the fic), laurent has no way of knowing that damen is also miserable, laurent has no way of knowing that damen hasn't moved on (damen is, actually, at this point in time, fucking other people). laurent isn't looking for love or dates or romance, but then maxime shows up and he gives laurent an opportunity to prove to himself several things:

he has effectively moved on from damen (in his mind, having sex with other people = the ultimate 'i'm done with damen" move)

he is in control. he has only had consensual sex with one person in his life, which gives damen symbolic power over him in a weird, fucked up way. or... maybe the word isn't power, but status. damen has a status in laurent's mind and memories because he's the first person laurent CHOSE to have sex with, the first person he loved and showed him it could be good, etc. as long as damen maintains that status, laurent will never stop thinking about him, will never have anything to compare damen to and say "see, it wasn't that big of a deal". which brings me to...

he wants to minimize damen. he wants dismiss what damen meant to him, what their entire relationship meant, so it can be easier to move on. how do you move on if you're thinking "oh I broke up with the love of my life lol"? laurent needs to tell himself what he had with damen wasn't unique, wasn't that special. he can have it again (the SEXUAL part).

needless to say, this fails. he has sex with maxime and finds that it's nothing like it was with damen because it's WORSE, because having sex with damen was having sex with someone who knew him and loved him and respected him. laurent has sex with maxime but he's still thinking about damen, he's still in love with damen, the same way damen is having sex with kyra or trying to date iris while thinking and missing laurent.

once this realization sort of sinks in (yes, he can have sex with other people, yet that doesn't erase damen's status in his brain bc damen was special for a bunch of reasons I'm not gonna type in here - THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOR) that's when the self-harm comes into the picture. (this is discussed a bit in ch20 so SPOILERS but)

what kind of sex are maxime and laurent having? it's not the slow, gentle, love making stuff damen knows laurent was into. it's rough, it's degrading, it's not as pleasurable, it's a chore, it leaves marks. does laurent want those marks? we don't know. does maxime ask him if he does? we don't know. you can make it as non con as you want because the text doesn't go into detail.

the petnames. "why does laurent like it when maxime says it but not damen?" I don't think he does. he never gives damen a straight answer on this, but he does say that it makes him feel like a bimbo. it makes him feel slightly degraded. he says it wasn't terrible, but he never says he wanted it or that it was good. it's implied that damen tried it once or twice at the very beginning of their relationship, and I think we can all tell why laurent didn't like it back then with him either (bimbo feelings, laurent using him for money, the power imbalance, etc.)

uncle parallels. okay, this one's a bit tricky. yes, you're right to think that the abuse laurent's uncle subjected him to is nothing like his relationship with maxime for a plethora of reasons, but I think the narrative supports some people's opinions that maxime does resemble uncle in some ways (older, brunette, has a beard). i did not write maxime as a literal uncle stand in, so of course it's not going to be a perfect comparison. i wouldn't even call maxime and laurent's relationship abusive.

he said sex was the foundation of their relationship, which seems odd for an ascetic person like laurent who even in hiuh canon doesn’t seem to have engaged in that kind of relationship before dating damen, when he was in a way worse physical and emotional state, unless i’m wrong.

i tried to mirror canon in hiuh when it comes to laurent's... choices? in canon, damen is the first person he's with after his uncle because he's the only one laurent trusts. i don't have any doubts that canon laurent was terribly lonely and probably wanted to be loved waaaaay before damen came into the picture (post uncle, I mean) but his context and environment were so violent and dangerous that he couldn't let his guard down. similarly, in hiuh, laurent leaves his uncle's house without any money and in a very vulnerable position. he's not exactly carefree and happy and able to be like "oh I wanna date and fool around!! explore my sexuality!!!!" - in fact, this is a pretty big plot point in hiuh: laurent did contact damen out of pure necessity.

and yes, sex is the foundation of maxime/laurent for all the reasons I stated above, but at the same time it's not all about sex. it's not even about sex. it's about control and self-punishment. it's about self-hatred. we also don't know what state laurent was in when he started seeing maxime because we don't have his pov, but we do have nicaise's testimony. again, this is briefly mentioned in ch20, but it wasn't exactly pretty.

however, having said all of this, i'm not blind or dumb enough to think oh hiuh laurent is sooooo canon laurent, not a trace of ooc-ness. i get where the characterization issues are coming from. at the end of the day, I have to say that this post summarizes a tiny bit of what went into creating hiuh laurent. i tried to make him as canon as possible, but I'm not pacat and so my characterization is different. my setting is different. the modern au is different. it is completely fair to read hiuh and think as a reader "i would not have gone in this direction, i don't think laurent would ever be with someone who isn't damen, i don't think it's consistent with his canon self". i accept those comments in the same way i accept those that say they love this laurent bc of XYZ.

this is the one area so far where laurent has been extremely defensive and refuses to take responsibility, even though it really hurt damen

i understand this, but at the same time i don't know how much responsibility laurent can take over that when it's... just dating/fucking someone else after a break up. he should apologize for making damen feel bad on purpose (perhaps taking maxime places), but the rest of it... damen also fucked and thought about dating other people. the comparisons you mention were cruel, but they were made, for example, by characters like aimeric (removed from the narrative entirely later on) and ancel (who tells damen he was wrong, who tells damen he thinks laurent made a mistake letting him go).

i don’t see how damen could get over this massive insecurity when laurent appears to ridicule or dismiss him for bringing it up, like with the condom conversation or the pet name issue.

i understand that, but i also think damen's insecurity wasn't born just from this issue. he is an insecure person throughout the fic. his toxic masculinity is one way this insecurity and lack of self-confidence manifest, for example. his fixation on penetrative sex. his fixation on performance. his fixation on parenting like laurent because his own way is wrong. his fixation on never thinking about the things and people he lacks because he can't take it.

yes, laurent played a huge role in feeding that insecurity, but I'm failing to see where he is ridiculing damen. during the condom conversation, laurent snaps because he feels judged and attacked, not because he's making fun of damen's pain. during the pet name conversation, the same thing happens. and in both instances, damen is judging laurent. he judges laurent really harshly in other scenes, too, like when they find out about claude.

some of these issues are talked about in ch20, but I don't think there is a scene where laurent addresses everything. perhaps he should. i just didn't write it.

[maximalismdaybyday]

Source

[savoytrufflephd]

Let's talk about the title...

Having created this Tumblr for no other purpose than send HIUH (Hand in Unlovable Hand) asks to @thickenmyblood, I figured why not dedicate winter break to fic analysis posts?

So let's start with the title!

How could you possibly be here if you're worried about spoilers, but...

Hand in Unlovable Hand.

At first I was oriented toward the Mountain Goats song (“No Children”), you know how it goes :

I am drowning there is no sign of land you are coming down with me hand in unlovable hand

And throughout the fic's posting, lots of readers have been alternately finding Damen and then Laurent very hard to like (which was an awesome reading experience in and of itself because fanfic doesn’t always tend toward deeply complex characters). So the sort-of-toxic relationship view felt plausible (except I was always going for “appears-toxic-but-is-actually-true-love-and-totally-fixable” because this is make-believe anyway and it’s based on CP, so).

But now I’m thinking, what if the “unlovable” is actually about people who think they are unlovable? And what if that’s not just both Damen and Laurent, but also Nicaise?

So, like, what if what this little family actually has in common – even if Damen appears to have a very different history and Laurent has said they are too different – is their individual fears that no one will ever really love them?

Like Nicaise obviously doesn’t think Damen can actually love the real him and tries to be on his best behavior (even while pushing Damen’s boundaries). And Nicaise seems like he’s doing his level best to drive Laurent away, so that when Laurent eventually abandons him – as he fears - he can pretend that’s what he wanted anyway. 

And Damen has panic attacks about Maxime not because he gives a shit about Maxime but because he’s let Maxime represent the idea that Laurent never really loved Damen, but was just using Damen and moved on quickly and painlessly. And Damen had no mother and had a distant father and a resentful half-brother and he’s only just beginning to believe that chosen family can be real family.

And Laurent completely doesn’t get that Damen has this insecurity because he sees Damen’s life as so normal and charmed.

And, finally, even though our unreliable narrator thinks Laurent has always been in control of everything, including their relationship and entrance into the family formed by Laurent and Nicaise, Laurent’s insecurities (on nearly full display in Chapter 19) have been sprinkled throughout this fic like breadcrumbs.

In the original breakup:

“We’re different. We want different things.” Damen said nothing. The coffee was ashy in his mouth. Dry. “I’ve got Nicaise,” Laurent said, “and I can’t—this is not working. It was never going to work.”

In the overheard conversation with Ancel:

Ancel’s back is all Damen can see. His hair shakes from roots to ends when he tilts his head in Laurent’s direction. “I thought,” he says, slowly, “that you wanted different.” “I did.” “Ugh, Laurent, you’re giving me a headache. What even is the pro—” “I’m not,” Laurent says, louder than before. The shock of sound works like a slap, and Damen wants to move back into the hallway, to scurry to the other bathroom, to leave them alone, but his legs simply won’t take him there. “ I’m not. I’m still—you heard what Nicaise—”

In Laurent's interpretation of the breakup:

“You wanted out,” Laurent says, “so I gave you out.”

But Damen finds Laurent so loveable – and he didn’t ever really talk to Laurent about the effects his abuse – that he can’t understand how unloveable Laurent feels.

So I feel like they three are all so much alike (and so lost in insecurity) that now they’re all talking past each other.

But I also feel like when they come back together in the right way, the family will be so good for each other, damn it!

[fairyk133]

*smirking mischievouly*

What would Ruth, Joetta and Jason's opinions + interactions be like with Maxime? :p

Ruth Beautè:

Interaction:

Ruth Beatue was bored, of life, this school, the people. Life was already digging at her. She thought about taking her clothes off, taking a trip to her private showers, away from the animals of this so called school, she called a zoo. Her mini black kitten heels clacked against the cold tiled floor, there was another sound of footsteps, which did not match hers at all, she looked behind her, no one was there except the steps, she turned around to hear the steps become more palpable, only to see at the end of the hallway, a shadow. The dark figure came closer, Ruth grabbed onto her rosary, itching to grab the blade which was hidden as a silver cross. There stood a boy, 5'8, lean and cold. The "One-Eyed Laurent", she looked at him up and down. The boy spoke, "So- you must be the villainous nun everyone has been talking about.", a dry French accent came out of the boys' lips. Ruth blinked. "And you must be the One- Eyed Laurent", she crossed her arms unimpressed. The boy who was ahead of her, his visible eye squinted in annoyance, agitated really. "Who the hell do you think you are, huh?" He walked faster towards her catching Ruth off guard, "Madame Duchesse de Bulworth!" He spat, she was insulted, to the point she feigned a amusing scoff, "Who do you think you, are speaking to me like that?" she asked him with wide eyes, yet no fear. "Who am I? Says the girl who made my best friend go down under a damn ditch in the night, you tortured Mandy and other students. Huh, don't you?!" Ruth rolled her eyes scoffed then spoke, "Let me guess, you're one of her minions coming to protect her honor? Sorry to tell you patchy, but her honor was already tainted when she had the nerve to reck my name and hurt students, ruin my pure image, along with your steroid-roid-monkey-jock friend, Casey Harris. And if I were you..I'd chose better friend's you may have one eye but you ought to look better than that."

"So is this the way? to make a point by abusing people, tu penses que c'est juste?!"

"They aren't people, they are just animals, and since you're against it you might as well be part of them too. What makes you so different, eh? you judge people based off rumors do you not? So, what makes you the righteous one? Do you even what it's like to be treated like trash? To be hit rock bottom, bullied?"

"I lost an eye to bullying!"

"Well I lost a lover!"

Silence cornered them both from wall to wall, the boy just stood there, before swallowing he spoke when the air was quiet, "Comment est-ce arrivé?" Ruth made heavy breathing, she looked at down the floor before finishing her words, "Il s'est pendu.." He nods and looked up at her, but only with his eyes. He wanted to say something, the words crocked, "I'm...s-"

"It's fine." Ruth walked past him, hitting him in the shoulder with her shoulder, before leaving, she stopped and spoke. "Don't tell anyone about this." And walked off before murmuring one word.

"Cabot."

Idea of Relationship:

They have a lot of things in common (PLEASE LET THEM DATE SEE MY VISION). Logically, at first he would hate her, listening to what Mandy and Casey have to say about her, but ever since their interaction...he has a different view of her. I can vision a scene where the two were forced to work together with another person, a group assignment, and during the moments of being passive aggressive with who does what on the assignment, he would apologize for their altercation in French, leaving their unnamed partner completely oblivious through their altercations. She would calm down and forgive him. She would eventually ask him more about his eye, and would sympathize with him. Next morning, Maxime will find chocolate cheesecake in a plastic clean container wrapped with a violet silk ribbon over it, giving a note saying:

"I'm sorry, please forgive me"

Headcannons:

-Whenever Ruth is being her femme villainous self, she would say something mean about a person in French, and Maxime would cover his mouth with a book a laugh.

-(Depends is he is comfortable with his!!): She saw him without his eyepatch, and she had no reaction to it, but held his face and said he was very beautiful.

-People think they flirting, but its just the French cultured people acting French.

-Every assignment they work together on, they finish it. Study buddies but actually do the damn work.

-Send's small gifts to one another, she mostly gives him chocolate based things.

-talk about old Hollywood movies, she loves them ao much! Her favorite is "An Affair To Remember".

Jason Blackwell:

Interaction:

Jason was minding his own business when he saw a sketchbook, and it was left open. His curiosity got the better of him. He stooped down to look inside, before that he looked around to see if anyone would find him, snooping in places he shouldn't be in. As Blackwell glanced down he saw wellmade sketches of Christy Martin, Angie, along with Gord, Pinky, Vance. These were amazing, holy shit he thought. This was crazy, we got a mother fuckin' Picasso in this school. He turned a page, his green eyes widened only to see a sketch of a tall lean figure kicking a soccer ball, the person was a male in this sketch. The hair wasn't shaded in, so obviously the boy in the sketch was a blonde or had light hair of some sort. The boy was wearing the Bullworth soccer uniform, toned legs and everything, Jason's awe came to a short halt, when he checked out the number of the boy's soccer jersey in the sketchbook, it was number the 22. HE WAS NUMBER 22. What the hell? This can't be. It couldn't be, he looked over to the right page to see the sketch of the boy smiling, white, all American , bright teeth. It was him, HE WAS THE GUY.

Jason took a deep breath, he wasn't scared, he was flattered, amazed, and a little put off. That was when a voice made themselves clear, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jason turned to see a boy 3 inches shorter than him but looked like he would win a fight with him judging by the look in his eye. Jason's heart raced as he was looking side to side, the words barley came out, "I uhhh, hey!"

The boy then snatched, which it looked like to be his sketchbook, from the table. "Did you look?" said the boy squinting to look at the southern fellow. "What?" asked Jason in a panicked tone, "DID YOU LOOK?" said the boy with the black eyepatch over his other eye. "Yeah, I did I'm sorry, I just saw it out in the open, and...it looked..really cool and shit man."

"What?'

"Y-yeah, that was fucking beautiful...what are you..some sorta fucking D-de vinki?"

"You mean Da Vinci.."

"Oh, but like- you're cool man, hey! aren't you like...one of the football players? Holy shit man, you're amazing, AND YOU'RE AN ARTIST! Thats so cool! Hey..whats your name?"

"M-Maxime..."

"Oh..cool Maxime" He said his name wrong, but before Maxime could correct him, a random girl calle his name. "Sorry my bad, I gotta go, can't keep my girl waiting, cya!"

"Um..okay..cya.." Maxime then murmured, "Que diable?"

Idea of Relationship:

I don't think Maxime would be best friend's with Jason, he seems him too loud. But I could definitely see Jason calling him buddy and always leaning on him where Maxime is like..."Brotha get off of me." Jumpy overhyped x Cool ahead nonchalant relationship.

Headcannons:

-Asked this man to draw him or paint him, then cried when he say it costed money.

-When out in public Jasons yells ,"My boy a painter, wanna date him!?" trust me when I say...Jasons getting his head hit with Maxime's sketchbook for doing that.

-Helps Jason study but will get easily annoyed if a girl walks by and loses his focus.

-Scolds him for his promiscuity with girls who are already taken

-Tunes bro out whenever he's complaining about his relationships

-Yaps x listener

Joetta Holden:

Interaction:

The loud commotions of students filled the cafeteria. Gossiping, drama, she said she said. The whole normal Ideal of Bullworth Academy. Joetta was coming out from Chemistry, she wanted to go find Ruth. Where was she? Wasn't in her mini office, nor was she in the teacher lounge. She needed to find her best friend, but for some odd reason, she felt like she might be in the cafeteria, she scoped out every clique, even the non clique students only not to see her. She groaned, "Where did that snake bitch go?" she was tired, she had a hell of a moment during chemistry she didn't need this. Joetta's mind was plaguing her. She looked around the crowded lunch area and went back to find her clique the nerds, she made her way over there, het high 80's leather boots making it's unnoticeable sound on the hard floor.

"Greetings friend." said Beatrice, said calmly then raised a brow seeing her comrade so..upset. "What's wrong Joetta? you don't look so good."

"Oh nothing", Joetta sighed dramatically as she moves her legs under the table but over the seating board of the table, not sitting just yet. "Just that I can't find my friend, I don't know where the hell Ruth is, but I need to talk to her about the Newspaper club, I need her to convince Dr. Crabblesnitch that it's just not useless gossip, I'm standing on thin ice..."

As she said those words, Mandy whom had her legs crossed, chewing watermelon bubble gum stopped and leaned into Dan to whisper something in the ginger's ears. Dan gave a nod. He got up with his tray of food, sneaking near the Nerd's table.

"But, its fine, surely she's not just making out with her flipping boyfriend-whatever. My day as been stressful enough...I'm just gonna breathe and-", as Joetta sat down her eyes widened to feel something soft and liquid like on her bottom as soon she sat up. Out of nowhere a crowd of laughter escaped from the other side of the cafeteria. She got up, turning away to see Dan underneath her seat, it was him who placed cranberry syrup under her seat...which remind her of the Period incident at P.E... she looked up to see Mandy, the cheerleaders and the jocks laughing. Even...Ted, Joetta slapped Dan hard in the face and pushed out the way to get out the cafeteria. The sound of ohs and oooo was the last thing she heard. Ted stopped laughing.

As Joetta grunted and rushed to find a spare pair of shorts in her locker she was out of luck. "Dammit!" she scuffled and slammed fists on the locker, making a loud bang sound. Between muffled grunts she cried and sank to the floor. She covered her face, sitting on the cold tiled ground.

A sound of a door opening interrupts her and her depressing moment. She looked up to see a boy with a eyepatch just now staring at her. "Are you okay?" the boy asked, carrying a thick French accent.

"Oh as if you care...leave me alone." Joetta said covering her face to weep some more. "I hate this damn school..." The boy sighed and spoke again, "Please, just tell me why are you crying?" He was getting annoyed.

"I don't have any spare shorts...my life is a mess. I don't know where my friend is. She's probably out kissing her- fuck!"

"H-hey." He stooped down to her level and spoke once more, "What do you need spare shorts for?" Joetta sniffled sand spoke between sarcasm, "I know you don't care but fine! if you must know...Mandy and her goons played a prank on me, they made me sit on food and..my pants are ruined...and its...red." She put her head down once more to cry again. The boy sighed, comprehending the situation of this pathetic, freckled girl crying. He sighed and got up and took off her cardigan.

"Here", he said coldly, then saw the green eyes of hers, filled with tears. He shook the cardigan again for her to take it, she sniffed and grabbed it...

"T-thank you..uhh"

"Maxime"

"M-Maxie..thank you, Maxime."

"Je t'en prie." He nodded before sighing and leaving.

Idea of Relationship:

Joetta looks down on Jocks because she used to like Ted and he turned out to be a jerk (but he kind of did like her in a way..) She does not put her trust in men anymore, but Maxime is the guy to give her hope some good men exist.

Headcannons:

-Lays on her dorm with Ruth to talk about the attractive French MYSTERUOUS guy who helped her in the cafeteria.

-Probably has a small crush on him (Watch out for Jason lol)

-Makes sure not to write bad things about him in the schools newspaper.

-Wouldn't mind seeing his painting skills.