#there would be no lovable laurent without damen

[chastillon]

Y'all - your favorite character wouldn't even BE lovable without Damen!

All that captivating complexity would have been lost if Damen hadn't stepped up and nurtured Laurent's better side. Laurent was losing himself by the first book and it took someone with a superhuman amount of love to redeem him. I get that Laurent is your favorite - his core integrity softens that surface wit and mischievousness, he's great. But we would never have fallen in love with Laurent if Damen hadn't done it first. The first time you ever connected with him was through Damen's kind eyes. His point of view is the heart of this story, and that gentle attention and faith brings Laurent back to life. There would be no favorite character without Damen because he constructed that man.

That's why I'm irritated when people are enamored with Laurent but underestimate Damen. They neglect to appreciate the character that coaxed out their lovable favorite in the first place. It takes an emotional genius to accomplish what Damen did and we all should acknowledge it more.

[sir-pyllero]

Keeping Score

My very first Captive Prince drabble is a silly, mostly dialougue based feel-good Modern!AU in which Auguste is dating Nikandros which leads to Laurent meeting Damen and that means Nicaise might soon have four dads.

”Third date, huh? You going to tell him?”

Auguste glanced at Laurent through the mirror. “You know I will,” he replied and wiped the last of the shaving cream off his face.

“And if he’s not okay with it?”

“Then that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“Laurent.”

“Just making sure.”

Auguste sighed. “If he’s not okay with it then there’s no point, is there?”

“But you like him.”

“I do. Which is why I really hope he’s okay with it.”

Laurent hummed. “Just a t-shirt?” he asked when Auguste picked out a black one.

“Yeah, we’re just going out for coffee.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“He’s seen the house, right?”

“He has.”

“So, he knows you could take him to all the Michelin places in the city without making a dent to your bank account?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Well. He just scored a point,” Laurent said, following Auguste out of the room.

“You’re keeping score?”

“Of course.”

“How many points does he have?”

“2.”

“What’s the other point for?”

Laurent smiled. “You like him.”

--

“I, uh… I have to tell you something.”

They had been sitting the in the corner of the café for about an hour when Auguste finally decided to drop the bomb. It was a shame, really, he had enjoyed this date so far, just as much as the first two. Not only was Nikandros easy on the eyes, he was also easy to have a conversation with.

Auguste really, really hoped that he’d be okay with it.

“You’re married.”

Auguste chuckled. “No.”

“Okay, good. You just sounded so serious. The last two times I was told ‘I have to tell you something’ like that were when Damen first told me he was going to propose to his girlfriend and then called to tell me she fucked his brother and he was going to move in with me.”

“Uh…”

“Right, yeah. Sorry.” Nikandros cleared his throat. “You just really did sound serious. I have a habit of… I don’t know… rambling?”

“It’s okay. So, Damen lives with you?”

“Oh, no, not anymore, all that was about a year ago. His new place is right above mine, though... Might as well have stayed with me, I guess, but it does make dating easier not to have someone much better-looking hanging around your corners.”

“He’s not”

“What?”

“Better looking than you.”

Nikandros huffed. “You’ve met Damen.”

“Yes, I see him almost daily. And I think you underestimate yourself.”

“Are you trying to make me blush? I’m a grown man, I don’t blush.”

“Of course not.”

“Didn’t you have something to tell me?”

For almost 30 seconds, Auguste had forgotten that the fast beating of his heart didn’t have much to do with their playful bantering. He took a deep breath, squeezing his empty coffee cup. “Well. I don’t live alone.”

“The house is huge.”

“Yeah…”

“And?”

“…I share it with my son. And my brother.”

Nikandros blinked. “You have a kid.”

“Yeah. He’s 11.”

“You had a kid when you were 20.” Auguste nodded. “Are you divorced? Not that that matters, I’m just… curious.”

“No, it’s uh… It’s bit of a story, actually,” Auguste admitted.

“I have time,” Nikandros shrugged. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to tell me which is fine, too.”

“It’s not a secret. His mother really wanted a baby. We were good friends and we were young and I… offered my services,” Auguste explained. “I figured I’d be the cool dad, you know? The kind that doesn’t have much responsibilities but has him every other weekend and takes him to Disneyworld and buys him whatever he wants. I practically raised Laurent – my brother,” he clarified when Nikandros looked confused. “– so being the fun parent was going to be easy.”

“But he lives with you now?”

“He does. His mother died in childbirth.”

“Oh… fuck. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. My plans changed a bit after that.”

Nikandros nodded slowly. He didn’t say anything for a while and Auguste didn’t try to interrupt his train of thought. He knew that once Nikandros had processed everything, he’d then decide whether to stay or leave, and Auguste took the quiet moment as an opportunity to get ready for both scenarios.

“Can I just ask you something? Sort of personal?” Nikandros asked, his voice breaking the silence.

“Sure.”

“You are from Vere, right?”

“True.”

“And you have a bas… uh… a - a child out of wedlock?”

“Well… It’s not like we’re royalty,” Auguste joked. “But in all seriousness, yeah, it’s still not… preferred, though the people are not as backwards about it as they used to be. But we moved to the States when Laurent was still a kid and even my parents were too thrilled to have a grandchild to care that I didn’t marry his mother.”

“That’s good.”

“It is. And listen, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I know I should’ve made it obvious from the get go that I’m a package deal and…”

Nikandros silenced him by putting his hand on top of Auguste’s, catching him off-guard. “Don’t think you have to explain to me why you didn’t tell me about your child. I’m sure you had your reasons and I’m sure they’re perfectly reasonable.”

A warm wash of relief went through Auguste and it came out as a smile. Nikandros smiled, too, and it certainly didn’t look like he was going to bolt out of his chair and run. “Thank you.”

“No need. So, what’s his name?”

--

When Laurent opened the door, he most certainly was not expecting a man the size of a fridge to stand behind it. With a blink, he acknowledged he was an insanely good-looking man the size of a fridge.

“Uh… Am I at the right house?” the man asked, looking from his phone to Laurent.

“That depends,” Laurent said. “Are you delivering Chinese?”

“No?”

“Then I think you might have the wrong house.”

“Huh… Right. I’m looking for Nikandros?”

Laurent’s eyebrows shot up. “Nik’s real name is Nikandros?”

“Oh, this is the right house!”

“Is Nikandros out on a date with Auguste?”

“He is, yes. I have his car, so he asked me to pick him up. I’m a bit early, though. I just wanted to make sure I had the right house because… well, wow! I thought my parents’ house was big, but this is more like a mansion. Anyways, now that I know I’m at the right place, I can go wait in the car. Sorry to have bothered you.”

Laurent let the guy take a few steps before making a split-second decision and calling out: “Wait!” The guy turned around. He was smiling. He had a dimple.

Fuck.

“Auguste texted a while ago that he’s going to be late. He told us to order food. We tend to order way too much so… you’re welcome to share. You’re probably going to have to wait a while.”

The guy frowned and took his phone out of his pocket. “That’s weird, Nik didn’t… Oh. He did. Damn.”

Laurent shrugged. “My offer stands.”

“You’re absolutely sure I wouldn’t be a bother? I can just come back later.”

“It’s fine, come on. The food will be here soon.” He stepped aside to let the guy in. “I’m Laurent.”

“Damen,” the guy said. “Damn, this place is even more impressive on the inside,” he continued. “You live here, too?”

“Yes.”

“Cool. Veretian?” Damen asked, nodding at some of the decorations as he followed Laurent to the kitchen.

Damen recognizing Veretian style did not make him any less attractive and Laurent had to bite his cheek not to show how impressed he was. “Originally, yeah. We moved here when I was four, though. Hey! Nicaise, dinner will be here soon!”

Nicaise was sitting on the kitchen isle, feet hanging in air and eating chocolate sauce straight out of the bottle. “I’m having dessert first,” he said with a shrug.

“And I’m sure you’ll want dessert after, too.”

“I’m a growing boy. Who’s the brute?”

“He’s a friend of Nik’s. I invited him to share our dinner since your dad’s going to be late. Oh, and hey, you’ll never guess what Nik’s real name is.”

“Nikoangelo.”

“Better. Nikandros.”

“Nikandros?” Nicaise huffed. “Is he Greek?”

“Close,” Damen said. “Akileon. We both are.”

Nicaise frowned. “Aren’t we supposed to hate them?”

“That’s ancient history and you, smart-ass, don’t even have Veretian passport,” Laurent said. “This is Nicaise, by the way. Auguste’s son.”

“I gathered,” Damen said. “I didn’t know Auguste had a son. Nik didn’t say anything, either.”

“He didn’t know, either. He does now, though, and since they’ll be back late, I guess he didn’t run for the hills. That’s another point for him,” Laurent said, the last part directed at Nicaise.

“He’s got 4 now, then.”

“3.”

“No, Dad says he likes dogs. That’s a point.”

“He likes kids, too,” Damen said. Laurent felt a little stab in his gut but masked it with a curious ‘oh?’ “Yeah, I mean. When he talks about future goals, he wants a family. One of our friends has a little daughter and Nik just turns into pudding when she’s around. So… yeah. Auguste having a kid wouldn’t scare him away.”

Laurent felt the corner of his lip pulling upwards. “Well,” he said. “He hasn’t met him yet.”

“Hey. I am perfectly lovable.”

“Mmhm.”

“You love me.”

“I’m obligated.”

“Fuck you. I’ll get it!” Because at that moment, the doorbell rang. “Where’s your wallet?”

“The desk.”

“He uh… He’s a handful, I’m guessing?” Damen said carefully when Nicaise rushed out of the kitchen.

“He’s better when his dad is home. I’m the cool uncle, I can let a few things slide. Beer?”

“I’m driving.”

“Hm. Well, that’s a point to you,” Laurent said. “Water, coke, root beer?”

“Water’s fine. And why would I need points?”

“You never know.”

“Then I’d like to mention that I absolutely love dogs.”

Laurent’s heart made a delighted little jump. It surprised him enough that he was sure his cheeks flushed red and he turned to the fridge to take out two water bottles and a cola for Nicaise. “So…” he said when he turned back to face Damen. “What do you do? For living?”

“I’m an architect. I work with Auguste, actually. Or, for him,” Damen replied. “That’s how they met. Nik and Auguste.”

“Ah. You’re Damianos.”

“Well, that sounds even sillier than Nikandros,” Nicaise declared before Laurent could explain how he knew Damen’s real name.

“That’s rude,” Laurent chastised. “Was it the cute one?”

“Yup.”

“How much did you tip him?”

“You’ll sleep better if you don’t know.”

“Nicaise…”

“What? He’s a student with a student loan! I did a good deed! When I die, I’ll come back as a noble steed for my good karma!”

Damen laughed out loud at that, causing both Laurent and Nicaise to turn to him. “You can’t argue with that logic.”

Nicaise grinned. “See? Even the brute agrees. Can I eat in the living room?”

“Go ahead.”

Nicaise loaded his plate with a lot more food than he would probably eat and normally Laurent would have told him to leave half of it, and come back if he was still hungry after eating the first half. Now, however, he was strangely glad that Nicaise would most likely stay out of the kitchen for at least half an hour.

”You know about me?” Damen asked when Nicaise was out of sight.

“Auguste has mentioned you, yes.”

“Oh God. He’s complained about me, hasn’t he?”

“As a matter of fact, I think he’s rather impressed with you.”

Damen whooped. Laurent found it quite adorable and for that, he internally shook his head at himself.

“That’s a relief. I thought him not telling me that he has a son was an indication that I was on some sort of a black list,” Damen said.

“That’s not it, trust me. He’s just insanely protective of Nicaise. We both are,” Laurent explained.

“But you invited me in,” Damen pointed out.

“You’re friends with Nik and he’s a good guy so… Yeah, I invited you in.” Not to mention I want to stroke your hair and put my finger in your dimple. Laurent cleared his throat. “Take whatever you want. I like everything.”

Laurent was sure a guy of Damen’s size could eat a whole lot more than what he put on his plate, but he didn’t want to stomp on his subtle way of being polite. They made small talk of Laurent’s history studies and why he hadn’t taken the family route to be an architect. They touched the subject of Damen’s brother taking over their family’s company but Laurent didn’t probe when Damen changed the topic quite quickly. Nicaise appeared at some point to declare he wanted ice cream but was quickly off again with his full bowl to watch what Laurent was quite was not an appropriate movie for a boy for his age.

“I get why you’re fond of him,” Damen said.

“Other than the fact that he’s my nephew?”

“Well, yeah. I know lots of people who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about their nephews.”

“Hm. Me, too.”

“So I think it’s cool, you know. This little family unit that you have going on. You’ve clearly made it work,” Damen said, smiling.

“We have. Which is why we’re very careful about who we let in it,” Laurent said.

“Nik’s a good guy, I swear.”

“I believe you. Are you?”

Damen’s expression changed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you already scored a point since you absolutely adore dogs,” Laurent said, quoting Damen from earlier. “And you’ve managed to score a few more in a very short amount of time, if you’d be interested to… take advantage of that.”

“You’re the younger brother of my boss,” Damen said. “We really should just stay friends.”

“Friends. Is that what you want?”

“I work for your brother, Laurent.”

“He won’t mind. If you really are a decent person, he’ll probably encourage it,” Laurent said. “Just tell me, if Auguste wasn’t your boss, would you hesitate?”

Damen shook his head, no. “I’d have already asked you out.”

“Then ask me out.”

Damen took the tiniest step forward. Laurent’s felt a thrill go through him, and that was a new, exciting feeling that he really wanted to explore.

“Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” Laurent replied right away. “I just – I don’t have the option to hide my family from you anymore, so to speak. So before a… date? turns into anything more, I have to make absolutely sure that you are in fact a good guy. You’ll have to patient with me. I’m telling this to you now because we’ve known each other for 20 minutes and it’ll be less awkward for you to just decline and walk away. I won’t be easy. In any aspect of dating. Even this – what we’re doing now - is actually foreign ground for me.”

Laurent took a deep breath after his little speech, sure that his cheeks were flaming. Damen was smiling so that his dimple was very visible, and Laurent swore he could drown in those eyes.

“I’ll do my best to make sure you never have to doubt that I’m a good guy. How’s that sound?” he asked.

“That sounds… great. Great.”

“Good. A date, then? Dinner?”

“Yeah, that…”

“I’m home! Where are you, there’s someone I… Oh. Hi, Damen!”

Auguste came into the kitchen then with Nikandros behind him. He paused to take in the two plates on the kitchen counter and raised his eyebrows at Laurent in silent question. Laurent shrugged, but failed to keep the tiny smile off his face.

“Damen didn’t see Nik’s text until he was already here, so I invited him to share the food,” he said, opting for the truth as an explanation. “Nicaise is watching something R-rated in the living room.”

“I’ll throw you under the bus if his teachers complain about his language again.”

“Of course.”

“Anyways, uh… Laurent. Meet Nik. Officially,” Auguste said, stepping aside a little so that Laurent could shake hands with Nikandros. “Nik, this is Laurent.”

“Nice to meet you,” Nikandros said politely.

“Likewise,” Laurent replied. He did smile, but at the same time he hoped his eyes communicated that even though he was the younger brother, he’d have no problem kicking Nikandros’ ass should the need arise. To his benefit, Nikandros seemed to understand, as he offered a little nod as an assurance.

During their silent exchange, Auguste had brought Nicaise back to the kitchen. The boy was still a little small for his age and looked even smaller next to his dad, who competed with Damen in size. Quite a lot of his confidence had been left on the couch, and he pressed himself close to Auguste as Nikandros offered his hand.

“Nicaise, this is Nik. You’re going to see a lot of him from now on,” Auguste said, putting his hand thought Nicaise’s curls.

Nicaise stayed silent for a moment, eyeing Nikandros suspiciously. When he finally spoke, what he said was: “Damen’s real name is sillier than yours.”

Auguste made a sound to probably scold Nicaise, but it died when Nikandros just burst into laughter, which scored him another point in Laurent’s book.

“It is, isn’t it?” (“Hey!”)

“If you ever move in here, can we get a puppy?”

“We’ll make it our mission to make your Dad agree.”

“Okay. Can I go now?” Nicaise asked Auguste.

“Yeah. But you won’t finish that movie!” Auguste called after him as Nicaise disappeared. “He’ll warm up,” he said to Nikandros.

“That’s better than what I dared to hope. I thought he’d lock himself inside his room,” Laurent said.

“It’s a win, then?” Nikandros asked.

“Definitely,” Auguste confirmed. “Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep Damen waiting any longer.”

“There’s still food,” Laurent hurried to say. “You didn’t have dinner, right? You can finish this and we’ll… we’ll give you a little while longer? To… finish… your date?”

Auguste took the hint before Nikandros, who was frowning now, did. “Are you hungry?” he asked, and Nikandros blinked.

“I could eat.”

“Great! We’ll be…” somewhere you can’t see us “…in the garden.”

Laurent only stopped to turn the TV off (which earned him a “oh, come on!) because Nicaise hadn’t obeyed Auguste and led Damen out to the backyard and to the little secluded area behind some rose bushes where he liked to read. The bushes were also conveniently tall so that they could not be seen from the first floor of the house.

“Did you turn their first date into our first date?” Damen asked, amused.

“We’ll call this a pre-date?” Laurent offered. He was a little breathless.

“I’ve never had one. What does it entail?”

“I was thinking… if you don’t mind… a kiss? Because I think I might panic and it’s better to get it out of the way now so that it doesn’t ruin our actual…”

“Why would you panic?”

Laurent paused, realizing that little slip was quite a lot more than what he wanted to reveal to someone who was still practically a stranger.

This once, however, he chose not to turn back and retreat.

“Not now,” he said instead of fleeing. “Maybe… one day, okay?”

“Okay.” Damen pushed a strand of Laurent’s hair behind his ear. It was such a gentle touch, unlike what Laurent would expect of someone of Damen’s stature, and that in itself was strangely assuring. “I’ll kiss you now. Just push if you don’t want it.”

He was tall, so tall, but Laurent didn’t feel any fear as he closed the distance between them, slowly, giving Laurent every chance to change his mind.

Laurent didn’t, and Damen’s lips were so soft he almost moaned.

And that’s the beginning of how Nicaise suddenly had basically four dads.

[ahdriking]

Since this is one of the few blogs that discusses controversial issues, I'm curious what you think about this. Much fandom discourse centers around the scene with Ancel. It's supposedly this huge flaw in the books, that it's not acknowledged as rape. Well, the books don't acknowledge that the sex Damen had with slaves was rape, either. Sex with people you own who can't say no=rape, if we're applying modern rules. Why all the discourse about Ancel, but Damen is just a lovable fuckboi?

HI sorry it took so long to reply, I wanted to do this justice. 

I’ve talked before about how the books have a huge tonal and genre shift between the first and third book, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the series was picked up for mainstream publishing, and Pacat had to try and appeal to a wider and more mainstream audience in order to be successful. Had KR been written on livejournal it would have been a very different book. That being said, the mainstream reach and ‘appeal’ of the third book is what brought A LOT of people into this fandom, so ultimately the popularity CP garnered in 2016 wasn’t because of the first book, it’s darker themes and its heavily genre-based sexuality, it was because of the light fluffiness of what awaited them in KR. And, because of this genre shift, and the fact that KR is more of a straightforward romance and seemingly 'acknowledges' that ‘slavery bad’, and clearly presents itself as having a different agenda and different moral standards than the first two books, the fandom tends to retroactively judge the early canon by the same standards, disparaging the heavy and controversial content particularly in the first book, and particularly in regards to the sexual abuses (you definitely don’t see as many people talking about the horror of Laurent having Damen flayed, it’s all about that rape stuff). 

Or, as my friend put it: “It's a lot easier to buy your canon as a traditional love story that's all Good Things instead of complex shades of grey, so you can tell yourself your main characters are good people.”

Similarly, retroactively applying romance/modern standards of consent to a story that started as slavefic is bound to get people up in arms about rape, and it's a superficial and comforting way of looking at the issue - ‘rape in book one was BAD but we've moved past that!!’ It's also a lot easier to be angry at Pacat for not addressing that as rape without realising that it would imply Damen is a rapist many times over (which he is, if we're applying real world standards).

My take though, and a take a lot of others also share, is that Damen himself doesn’t regard that blowjob as rape. Damen grew up having a very warped and cultivated opinion about what consent meant, and has never in his life had to confront the idea that a slave, who’s ‘purpose’ is to serve, even sexually, might not want to do so. Acknowledging that what happened in the garden is rape implies a lot of things about Damen that Damen doesn’t or can’t really acknowledge at that time. Because if that’s rape, then what has he been doing for the past 25 years of his life? If the answer is raping slaves, Damen sure as fuck doesn’t have the ability to admit it. Not until later.

Furthermore, Laurent was morally and legally within his rights by the convention of the society he lives in to do what he did (Laurent is probably the only person who realises that what he's doing is wrong, even though he’ll happily continue to do it for revenge), he could have killed Damen, he wanted to, and it was only his uncle and his excuses about offending a new alliance that stopped him. It wouldn’t be much different in Akielos, except for, I imagine, the social stigma tied to ‘failing as a slave owner’ if you have to put an unruly slave down. So, as I see it, Damen is angry because of being made powerless, because he went from top dog do less than a person in the eyes of the society he lives in-- under those circumstances, he doesn't have the time to think too hard on the sexual violation or it’s implications, and it clearly isn’t his priority in that moment. I mean, Erasmus makes it sound like Laurent did Damen a favour, so imagine what that implies about what Damen has done with slaves he owned. 

But, on the note of the way the scene is depicted, I honestly think it’s supposed to read as kinky, because the story started out as kinky ID fic. It’s not acknowledged as rape, at any points in the first two books, for a reason. Look at the society Pacat has created and that we spend the most time in in book one: ‘Masters’ take on pets and control their pets' sexual performances, and pets presumably have contracts defining that and don't seem to mind much, as per Ancel’s POV. It’s a society built on sex and kink and the ability for one person to control another, the only difference is there’s a legal contract as apposed to a collar. 

I've seen people express disappointment that their perfect first time moment in PG is ruined by Damen bringing back up the blowjob like it was "sex by proxy" and not "sexual assault" and these people are missing the fact that while genre wise PG is not the same as CP-- more adventure than kink-- they still are on the same side of the genre divide the story went through. We the readers were supposed to think Damen bringing back up the blowjob was sexy because, at the time that chapter was published on LJ, that's the kind of story it was, and I think a lot of post-KR readers didn't like that Pet had another take on that scene because they like their happy simplistic narrative that not only the series changed "for the best" and "grew past" all the yiksey slave stuff, but so did Pacat. Which is total bullshit and moralistic. The series changed genre to appeal to a wider audience, it became commercial, but I'm pretty sure that Pacat is a grown ass woman with a healthy understanding of the difference between fiction and reality and the different shades of morality in each fictional genre. So in their narrative, the fact that Pacat reverted to all that yiksey book one stuff with Pet is a moral failing, but frankly fuck off. It’s not a moral fault to get off to fictional dubcon blowjobs.

So tl;dr: the younger, more romance-focused part of the fandom tries to retroactively apply KR morality to the rest of the series and to Pacat's authorial intention (which is BULLSHIT why do you even care about authorial intention) but the fandom refuses to look too closely at all the moral implications of the series as a whole on their characters, because that would mean having to deal with the fact that the characters are morally grey, especially Damen. Also, I can't believe the fandom gets so hung up on the blowjob and ignores all the Implications of newly redeemed-slavery is wrong Damen talking about how hot Laurent kneeling in TSP is because it reminds him of slaves. 

Fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum WHICH MEANS that you have to consider a work of fiction within the context in which it was created to understand why it does the thingIT DOESN'T MEAN that all fiction should reflect what we consider acceptable in the real world, but also if that's the hill you want to die on please expand that moralistic analysis to include all 'problematic' aspects of canon. If the Ancel scene was abominable rape, Damen is a rapist. The solution to avoid this dilemma is not to apply RL consent standards to the slavefic genre, and to apply KR-morality standards to KR and post KR fic only.