#capri au

[barbitone]

Ridiculous Berencel AU of the Day

Therapy AU

Hear me out-

To set the scene, Ancel and Laurent are roommates. They met in school at some point, and now they live together because Laurent covers rent and Ancel cooks and cleans, and reminds Laurent to eat and drink because he's in graduate school and terrible at taking care of himself.

Ancel is working some appropriately low-paying job. Stripping, maybe, but I always have him stripping so maybe this time he's... a dog groomer or something. Maybe he's had to do a lot of different jobs, because he has terrible taste in men and keeps hooking up with coworkers, and when things go south he bails.

And then there's another dramatic break up, another string of shady hookups, and Laurent has to pick up a drunk and crying Ancel at a bar and he's had ENOUGH.

He tells Ancel he has to go to therapy or he has to start paying rent. But it's ok, he knows A Guy. And he will pay for it too, and Ancel better get in line.

Enter Berenger. He is boring and stuffy and lame and wears ugly reading glasses. His receptionist (Parsins) is old and clearly Dissaproves of Ancel's outfits.

But free rent is on the line, so Ancel goes.

He absolutely does NOT engage in therapy (which is important because I know nothing about therapy and do NOT want to try to write it) he just uses it as an excuse to bitch and describe his sexual escapades in great detail to try to get Berenger to blush. Berenger tries to get him to open up for real, to no avail.

Featuring scenes such as:

Ancel runs into Berenger outside of therapy constantly. He runs into him in the grocery store. He runs into him at a bar, where he realizes that Berenger is hot, actually, when he's not wearing his ugly brown suit. He pretends he's Berenger's boyfriend in front of Berenger's friends (Vaskian ladies, for this one) and Berenger can't deny it because... therapy means he can't out Ancel as his client in front of people and he has to play along instead

Ancel doubles down on talking about sex, because now he wants to seduce Berenger for The Challenge

Berenger resists stoically, because this isn't how it's done!

Maybe Berenger accidentally brings his ridiculously anxious horse dog to the grooming place Ancel works without realizing it, and sees Ancel being sweet on her (Ruby?) and her being sweet on him, the way she NEVER is with strangers, and starts to fall a little in love

Ancel complains, petulantly and at length, that some ASSHOLE parked a motorcycle in his favorite spot and he accidentally backed into it and scratched his bumper, and he didn't leave a note and he hopes birds shit all over the bike now that it's lying on the grass under a tree. Berenger gets a pinched look and says "...you knocked over my bike?" It is awkward. They go look at the damage. Ancel offers to pay awkwardly but Berenger refuses. I cannot emphasize enough how AWKWARD it is. Modern AU Berenger is always motorcycle Berenger now, sorry not sorry

Laurent invites his brother and his brother's best friend to dinner. Auguste shows up with Berenger. Berenger is incredibly uncomfortable. Ancel is also uncomfortable. Laurent is a smug asshole. This is what he's wanted all along.

Laurent never thought Ancel needed therapy, he thought Ancel just needed a decent boyfriend, and he's tired of all of Auguste's stories about trying and failing to set Berenger up. Auguste has been trying to get him with someone Appropriate but clearly Berenger is a freak and needs someone wildly Inappropriate, like Ancel

Laurent has been pulling the strings all along, using Ancel and Berenger like action figures trying to get them to Kiss

At their next session, Berenger fires Ancel as a client because clearly this is just Not Appropriate

He asks him out for dinner afterwards

Happily Ever After

[oxiosa]

Chapter: 5/? Pairing: Luciano/Martín (Brazil/Argentina). Warning: CaptivePrince!AU. I’ll keep updating the fics tags and adding the warning I think worth mentioning on each chapter’s notes. Summary: Martín really is an unlucky bastard.

[reinekes-fox]

My brain comes up with the most bizarre AUs for Captive Prince.

And, not to sound full of myself, some logical storylines.

One I can’t continue because it’s just kind of traumatic for me after Covid: hospital AU, but there are suspiciously many dead organ donors (all the signaturs are faked), and some people of the hospital stations stuff are involved. The Regent is the hospitals sponsor and makes money with the illegal organ „donations“. To investigate it undercover cops Damen and Berenger are sent there... but the schooling they got is the worst and the nurses are all horrified.

„Doctor Berenger... are you really sure you want to give this patient propofol? His bloodpressure is 90/60!“ Berenger nervously looks at the nurse ���I mean I can do it but you will go to court for murdering a man.“

The other one is about Parkour.

The company Regent started as a fitness clothing store but now managed to open up studios for indoor training and has several well known faces for advertisement. It is also ruthlessly destroying its „enemies“ and takes a strong stand against outdoor training of any kind. Especially the local traceur group under Damen has gotten in its way... a competition between a hall trained traceur and Damen ends with a grave injury, resulting in a public outcry that outdoor training needs to be stopped at all costs.

What really caused Augustes injury was inferior clothing, not being used to train outside the hall and the toxic teachings of the company which is all about being the best at all costs and shred your competition to pieces. Which goes against what being a traceur is.

I already have half a page where Damen tries to convince Laurent of why the way Regent does things is wrong.

[sunsetxxlover]

So naturally while I was on a walk my mind wandered to Damen & Laurent (as one’s thoughts usually do after CaPri has taken over their life), I thought about a modern AU where Damen is quite popular on TikTok. I was messaging back and forth with @captain-sass-pants​ and i’M YELLING at what we came up with:

obviously Damen does the stupid trends like: the freeze frame sit or dance on hand, the cute vs demonic pictures, even the dance challenges (lbr he’s pretty good at it)

dance videos with Nik are a bonus, too, cause they’re both hot as fuck (roses hip sway, anyone?)

but then there’s the ones he’s known for which are his always failed attempts at scaring Laurent while he’s reading. Really, he’s known for the ones that include Laurent in general

“part 1 of trying to scare my boyfriend while he’s reading” .... “Part 13 of trying to scare my boyfriend while he’s reading”

“I tried the trend where you walk out naked while your boyfriend is preoccupied...”  Laurent doesn’t even look up from his book “this is a good chapter. Try again later.”

“part 1 of trying to teach my boyfriend a tiktok dance” 

Laurent: “my hips don’t move like that. No, Damen.”

300 tiktoks of Damen bugging the FUCK out of Laurent

“I interrupted my boyfriend during his every day tasks for one month this was the results”

“I hid all of my boyfriends hair ties and watched him slowly lose his mind”

“I turned my boyfriends bookshelves inside out like for part 2 to see his reaction”

“One month of moving his bookmark one page to the left”

“I tried to scare my boyfriend when he came home from the grocery store” 

Laurent punches the fuck out of his eye

“Dancing to renegade in front of my boyfriend every day until he does it with me”

he’s on day 400. he does renegade in his sleep.  Laurent wants to kill him: “It’s been over a year, enough already”

“How I thought my boyfriends hair would look after my attempt to braid it vs how it actually turned out” uh heh heh....

Bored in the House but it’s just Damen standing over Laurent while he’s reading

“This is my best friend. I’ve liked him for a while now so I thought I’d kiss him” kisses Laurent with a text cover “cause he’s already my boyfriend”

People at first like don’t understand that they’re dating and practically married and the comments are all like “oh my god they were roommates”

“Every time I’ve caught my tone deaf boyfriend singing in the shower”

[littlemoondarling]

This is concept art of a captive prince au that I'm working on where the war takes place in the future with futuristic weaponry and healing methods.

[barbitone]

Angsty Captive Prince AU of the Day

(warning for typical capri content regarding The Regent and Laurent)

The Regent is Laurent’s only source of comfort after Auguste’s death, and he uses that to keep Laurent close. Their relationship grows more and more twisted with time, but Laurent clings to it because it’s the only thing he has (other than his hatred of Damianos)

Eventually something happens- either the Regent tries to end it, or maybe Laurent finds out about Aimeric. Laurent snaps and straight up murders the Regent (maybe roughly around the age of 15?)

Technically he’s not old enough to ascend for a while yet, but he takes control of the court with an iron fist. Any councilor that dares stand against him gets quietly murdered, and soon they’re all his yes-men and he can do whatever he wants. He only has contempt for his court, who knew about the Regent’s proclivities and turned a blind eye to it.

He gets a reputation for madness- prone to sudden fits of violence where just before he was cold as ice. Everyone is terrified of him. Maybe he even takes Nicaise as a pet, as a ‘you liked the Regent so much? Well I’ll be just like him’ fuck you to everyone. He doesn’t actually touch Nicaise though, for obvious reasons. At this point maybe he’s seventeen, which makes Nicaise... twelve?

Nicaise is the only person who isn’t scared of him, and he reminds Laurent of who he used to be. He’s Laurent’s only true confidante, though Laurent still keeps most things even from him.

With the Regent dead and the court firmly under his thumb, Laurent turns to plotting Damianos’ demise. It seems fruitless, right up until Kastor reaches out to him for help deposing Damen.

This is the perfect opportunity and Laurent agrees, provided he’s the one that gets to kill Damen in the end.

The poison/coup thing goes down as per canon, with Damen being sent to Vere as a slave. Laurent toys with him for a while before Damen does something to make him snap- revealing that he knew who Damen was all along.

He also reveals the whole plan, that he helped Kastor take his throne, that he sent a letter to Nik with proof that Kastor is a traitor i.e. Nik is gathering his army and getting ready to wage war on Ios. Once Akielos is ravaged with civil war Laurent plans to take his own army and sweep south, conquering all of Akielos until he reaches Ios, where he’s going to take the palace apart brick by brick and cast it into the sea.

Damianos has taken everything from him, so Laurent will take everything from him- including his life.

He ties Damen to the saddle of his horse and drags him out of the city to a set of ancient artesian ruins, where he cuts Damen free and tells him to run. He hunts Damen down and has him on his knees, ready to kill him, when something stops him.

Nicaise? Auguste’s spirit which has been haunting his old battle armor? (oh, have I not mentioned this bit?) An impassioned speech by Damen?

Anyway, somehow he stops with the realization that by taking his revenge, he will lose his only reason for living. And somewhere deep down- he wants to keep living.

Damen tells him that he will give him a reason to keep living. He wants Laurent to help him get his throne back.

Laurent reluctantly agrees, and in the campaign that follows he slowly starts to heal and he and Damen fall in love.

[covertius-fic]

Because I want to read it, someone else needs to write a Shop Around the Corner style Capri au where Damen and Laurent are anonymous penpals/online friends who are each falling in deepest, purest love with the person they imagine behind the anonymous screen-name writing these beautiful, funny, intelligent, honest, incredibly heartfelt words ...

And meanwhile, unbeknownst to themselves, they’ve also met in real life and fucking hate each other

[nikanndros]

Alright, so I have Ideas™ about a convoluted Moulin Rouge Laurent/Crime Lord Damen AU, so bear with me, bc I’m probably never going to write this.

Um, TW: Violence, prostitution, the Regent being gross via implied CSA (but I’ll try to go into minimal detail for that), anything else let me know oh but Laurent!Satine doesn’t die so there’s that at least. Also a warning bc this was written in the early hours and has not been proofread at all.

Okay, so I’m real into Dual plots, so we’ll start with Damen, who is in this crime empire of some sort, I don’t know a lot about organised crime but the Akielos family is a Big Deal. So they make most of their money from the usual stuff: ‘protection’, drugs, etc. but they also have a name in prostitution, but the high-class kind. Their escorts are perfectly trained and come in all shapes and sizes etc, and in return for giving their lives and bodies (and most of their earnings) to the Akielos Family, they get to choose their own customers. So it’s shady, but like, not as bad as it could be. youtried.jpg

Except, our boy Kastor isn’t happy with being swept to the side and Damen being the inheritor so he’s been trying to get a following of his own (and Jokaste is helping him, but more bc she’s one of the escorts and she knows beauty runs out eventually and she’s got to move up in the world or get thrown away eventually. And Damen won’t marry her, so yeah, Kastor). And then surprise! Theomedes dies suddenly and totally mysteriously like wow, he was so healthy, how did that happen? (Murder!!). 

And Kastor is all: Suprise, bitch! This is a coup @ Damen, but he manages to escape with his life bc Jokaste has feelings of remorse and gives the poor guy a hand. So then it’s like the Crime Family equivalent of a civil war, Kastor’s got half the territory loyal to him, Damen has the other half, shit is going down.

Anyway, so at this point, it’s basically just mayhem: Damen’s trying to reason w Kastor and keep things together, and Nikandros is like, “We need to expand our territory,” so they can beat Kastor and regain control. 

This leads Damen one night to Vere, the notorious burlesque club that happens to one of the places Damen wants to take over. 

(Now time for a readmore, bc this is just the prologue, baby, it’s time for Laurent’s story)

Laurent AKA The Starburst Prince is the Sparkling Diamond equivalent of Vere, he’s the dancer everyone comes to see, and he’s beautiful etc etc. 

His backstory is Laurent and Auguste got orphaned, and The Regent (as is his title in Vere, what a fucking loser) took them in and maneuvered Auguste into getting shipwrecked (but I can’t kill Auguste off bc I’m weak, so let’s say he’s off with Pirates having his own adventures and trying to make his way back home to his beloved baby brother). Anyway, the Regent is gross, and he raises Laurent in Vere, where’s he’s taught things like dancing and singing and seduction and awful things happen. But then Laurent turns sixteen and he’s too old for the Regent, so the Regent is like ‘time to earn a living as a dancer’, but Laurent being Laurent is like “uh, go fuck yourself, buddy, I’m out” EXCEPT(I am so sorry) The Regent is of course prepared for this and oh look, out of the goodness of his heart he’s adopted a ten year old orphan Nicaise, who Laurent probably befriended prior to this when sneaking out etc. and The Regent is like, ‘if you leave then Nicaise will be your replacement and I’ll have to train him like I trained you bc I’m a sick fuck’. So Laurent stays, and he dances, and he Plans.

Unfortunantely, Laurent is stunning and an amazing performer and he quickly becomes the most popular dancer. Which brings us to present day - Laurent is 19, Nicaise is still too young, and the Regent is like, “it’s past time for you to make your proper debut, Laurent” and is pretty much like, time to earn some real cash and fuck one of the rich regulars.

Alright, so it’s like a big thing!! The Starburst Prince is going to choose someone to ‘deflower’ him and obviously it’s like a jam packed night of dudes tryna flash their cash and get a look in with Laurent. This also happens to be the night that Damen is checking out the club, anonymously. 

Anyway, just imagine something kind of like the Sparkling Diamonds scene at the start of Moulin Rouge, Laurent does some hella performance, everyone is like fuck yeah!!! Damen is obviously the human equivalent of the heart eyes emoji. And then the Regent cuts in during one of the costume changes or whatever to inform Laurent that he needs to pick a particular guy in the audience who is filthy fucking rich, let’s make it Torveld.

Except. Except. After everything that has happened to him since he lost his parents and Auguste, all the loss of agency, his only friend getting used against him, and essentially becoming a pretty play thing for the Regent, Laurent had somehow actually thought The Regent would let Laurent choose whoever he wanted for this night (as long as the person was willing to pay enough). And now he’s absolutely furious in that way that makes him wanna be a little fucking reckless. 

So Laurent goes out there, takes a good fucking look around, and picks the most intimidating dude he can see out there - bc his uncle can hardly argue with a guy whose bicep is the side of his head - and that dude is Damen. (Who is trying to keep a low profile, jfc Laurent). 

Laurent chooses Damen and pulls him onto the dancefloor and Damen is just like ??? but also <3 <3 <3, (And Nikandros is off in a corner somewhere, sighing loudly, like ofc this would happen, sometimes he has nightmares where he’s just like drowning in a sea of blonde hair, get your fucking fetishy shit together Damen). And The Regent is like Mad As Fuck, but also pretending that this is fine. Torveld is like, cool whatever and finding someone else to catch his interest. This would probably be Erasmus, but also like, pal pick someone your own age.

Anyway, they dance and it’s v sensual but also v romantic, and Laurent is kind of shocked but in a good way because Damen is letting him lead and he’d kind of just assumed this brute of a man would immediately take control but no. And Damen has no idea whats actually going on, so the dance finishes and he just like, thanks Laurent and probably says something disgustingly earnest about how lovely Laurent is, like “Tonight, I will dread sleep with the knowledge that not even my wildest dreams could compare to this” idk I’m not Shakespeare.

and Laurent is like, uh no pal, you’re not sleeping tonight, i’ve just like publicly invited you back to my room, will that be cash or cheque??? And Damen is used to the whole Escorts can choose who they get with kind of thing, so he’s like, Yeah, down for this. So they go back to Laurent’s gaudy room that is essentially a gilded cage. And Laurent is like okay seduction time.

except this part he’s never actually done before, and he’s actually quite awkward, and he keeps going between like all charming and like overcompensating masculine posturing. Damen is just “are we about to have sex or are we about to fight??”

Damen’s not entirely inept though and “Have you ever done this before?”

Laurent: What did you think this being my debut night meant?

Damen: Are you nervous?

Laurent: Please, you don’t scare me.

And Laurent just, kisses him, and it’s like the most hostile kiss of Damen’s life, like Laurent is trying to prove that he’s not scared and that he’s like down to fight any time any place m8. But Damen kind of gently pulls back and “Wait, I don’t know your name?”

Laurent: Were you dropped on your head as a child? I’m the headliner, the Starburst Prince.    (except he says it like it means something hideous, he’s not bragging)

Damen: No, that’s a title, don’t you have a name?

Laurent: Does it really matter?

Damen: I’d like to know who you are. I’m Damen.

And Damen is so god damn gentle and earnest that Laurent finds himself saying his name without registering he’s even doing it, and then Damen is sitting down on a chaise with him - an appropriate distance away - and they end up talking and laughing and Damen finds Laurent’s under the bed novel collection and they discuss them, and maybe Damen rolls up his sleeves and ends up telling this fantastical tale on how he got the scar on his bicep. 

Then it’s truly into the night and their both leaning back on the lounge and smiling at each other, and Laurent: “I’m glad I chose you to come back with me tonight”

“Why did you pick me?”

And Laurent explains a very condensed version: he had to pick someone, the regent tried to make the choice for him, he got mad. but it’s enough for Damen to know that Laurent actually doesn’t want to be here, he has no choice. Damen gets up and “Thank you for tonight,” he says, “I enjoyed every moment.”

“You’re leaving?” Laurent asks. Part of him actually suspected Damen was trying to lure him into a false sense of security by being charming before he pounced and yet here he is: leaving.

“I’m more than happy to pay, still,” Damen says. “The company of your sharp tongue is worth every cent.”

((It’s a Moulin!Rouge AU, it’s allowed to be a bit schmoopy))

“Stay,” Laurent says. “I’m not adverse to spending an evening with you.”

“I don’t want anything that you don’t wholeheartedly want to give me.”

“I’ve never allowed myself to want much in this life,” Laurent says, “But...”

And he stands up, and he’s almost at a height with Damen, and all the years dancing have made Laurent broad shouldered and lightly muscled, and Damen is really seeing him. Not as a courtesan, but as young man, who is witty and fiery and sharp and strong, but also a little vulnerable. And this time Laurent kisses him and it’s gentler, softer.

“Don’t make me say it,” Laurent says, quietly. “Let me show you.” 

And then they bang, but like, romantically, and for purposes of the story they are both pretty darn in love by this point. And they spent the entire night together learning each other both mentally and physically, then it’s dawn, and Damen has to leave (Poor Nikandros is just waiting out the front of Vere, checking his watch and hating his life). And when Damen is at the door, Laurent puts a hand behind his neck and pulls him down, and just as their lips are about to meet, he says “Come back to me tonight,” and then he’s pushed Damen out and closed the door. 

....ANDDDDDD this is getting way longer than expected, so let’s call this the end of Part One, and I’ll work on Part Two tomorrow. 

[rainlikestars]

“Would it be foolish for a slave to think that love between us would be possible?”

Captive Prince JJSeung AU.

[oxiosa]

Chapter: 4/? Pairing: Luciano/Martín (Brazil/Argentina). Warning: CaptivePrince!AU. I’ll keep updating the fics tags and adding the warning I think worth mentioning on each chapter’s notes. Summary:  Martín has to take a deep, deep breath. He truly has not missed His Imperial Highness at all.

[sunsetxxlover]

Hi, I just finished this fic about an AU where Damen accidentally texting Laurent by using the wrong number and it was SO ENJOYABLE!! I found it through this post. 

so.... use these as motivation to READ THE DAMN FIC!!!!

[barbitone]

I love all your Capri fics so much. Are you ever going to expand that one where the Regent forces Laurent to fight Damen in the ring and they escape the palace together?

I’m so glad you like my fics!

Sadly I think it’s pretty unlikely I’ll expand that one. It’s not impossible? But. I wrote what I wrote and am now drawing a blank about what’s going to happen next. I’m finding it difficult to pinpoint what it was that was so exciting about the initial concept and how to keep that vibe going. As soon as the muzzle comes off I’m a little 

(The fic fragments in question are here- Part 1 and Part 2)

[barbitone]

You know what would be freaking perfect? Berencel White Collar/Catch Me If You Can AU.

Ancel as the elusive jewelry thief/forger, Berenger as the put-upon detective who’s been on his trail for months (years?). They meet once, though Berenger doesn’t realize it’s Ancel at the time (Ancel has an idea- he’s noticed the undercover cops milling about the hotel and figured out that they’re watching his room- he can’t go upstairs and it would be too suspicious to leave the building, so the hotel bar is the next best thing), and fuck. Eventually Berenger catches him and sends him to prison, except then he keeps visiting him at least once a month (he’s the only one that does) because he thinks Ancel is amazing in his own way. His own very bad, wrong, criminal, way. And Ancel could have totally screwed him over by revealing to the department that they’d had sex, but he hadn’t and Berenger thinks that’s really strange and curious.

And then Berenger starts asking Ancel’s advice on his other cases, which Ancel gives in return for things like cake and nicer clothes and better privileges at the prison. Eventually there’s a really big case and Berenger manages to convince his boss (Laurent? Auguste?) that they should let Ancel out so he can help on the case.

And then they’re partners, and even though Ancel keeps slipping away and breaking the terms of his release he always comes back and eventually true love blossoms.

After Ancel’s sentence is over, he finds some other line of work. But he still helps Berenger out every once in a while. And if he commits some forgeries and other petty crimes along the way, well. Don’t ask don’t tell.

[barbitone]

Had a 6 hour drive this weekend. What did I end up thinking about the whole way?

Reverse Captive Prince AU @_@ After the battle of Marlas the Regent comes up with an awesome plan to send Laurent to Akielos disguised as a slave with the express purpose of seducing and then murdering Damianos @_@