#first for info but you know he's also extremely fascinated by juno and in denial about it

[escapingarchives]

@lo-andbehold

when Juno tells Nureyev the man he thinks he is is just an alias, a fake identity, Nureyev scoffs. a voice inside him pipes up that this might be why he doesn't feel like any of the things people tell him about himself fits. Nothing has felt right up until he saw this mystery man.

Nureyev asks Juno (he doesn't know Juno's name yet - but he immediately knew that the name the mystery man introduced himself as in the crowd must have been fake) what his own name could possibly be, then

because he refuses to believe he, a man of class, could be a lowly thief (but then why can't he stop listening to the words of this mystery man)

and Juno tells Nureyev that he promised he wouldn't tell anyone else. in this state, he can't tell him his own name. at this point, he doesn't know if someone else might be manipulating Nureyev; if he tells him his own name, Nureyev could blindly go and tell someone else, because he wouldn't know why it is such an important secret.

Nureyev changes tactics. He's seen how this man looks at him. He trails two fingers up the man's elbow, his shoulder, lightly up his neck. Juno leans into it, just a little. Nureyev notices that he wants to make the man before him tremble.

"maybe I could... drag my name from your lips-" Nureyev starts, but the man's eyes clear and he steps back.

"not gonna happen right now. I'm not telling you your name."

"I'm a thief with no name, then? in this story of yours?" Nureyev says, and he can't keep his eyes away from the tiny smile playing on the mystery man's lips.

"I suppose so, for now," Juno says. "When you remember my name, and you will - then I'll tell you," he promises.

hi penumbra fandom I'm new 👀 anyways

please envision with me. Peter Nureyev going undercover to steal a temporary memory altering device but when he steals it it malfunctions and bam amnesia trope, but consider

the people he has gone undercover for tells him "who he is" which is the fake identity so he tries to be that but vague memories of Juno keep leaking through, even though he thinks he's someone else

Juno gets worried and goes in there (undercover as well) and when Nureyev sees him his mind immediately goes. hello you are so so important to me and it scares me. at the same time he still thinks he's this other person and he can't make it fit. Juno can't say anything immediately because he can't blow their cover, so he has to get Nureyev alone and then try to convince him.

do we delve into angsty territory? or hella flirty? both??

I feel like there must already be a fic out there about this