It's hilarious that Armand and Daniel are each other's manic pixie dream girl if you think about it.
Armand is Daniel's because Daniel is this cynical, emotionally constipated, lonely journalist who's terrified of living an ordinary life, never making his mark on the world, and never truly mattering to anyone. Then he gets completely mesmerized by one scary, deranged vampire. Next thing you know, he's following him around the world, losing his mind, making increasingly questionable life choices, and eventually begging the vampire to turn him so they can become even more codependent for eternity.
But Daniel is also Armand's.
Armand has spent centuries trapped in the same cycles, playing the same roles, living in a prison of his own making. He's bored to death with Louis, feels rejected and unloved, and has pretty much resigned himself to the idea that this is all there is. Then this loud, nosy human shows up. At first Daniel just seems like a harmless source of entertainment and somewhere to dump a few centuries' worth of pent-up rage. Except Daniel refuses to be intimidated, keeps challenging him, and somehow ends up becoming the most interesting thing that's happened to him in decades.
More importantly, Daniel gives Armand something he's spent his entire life looking for and almost never received: warm, sincere, unconditional love. He also brings him joy, freedom, optimism, and a glimpse of a life that isn't defined by fear, performance, or obligation, things Armand has always struggled to find within himself.
The really endearing part is that if you asked either of them to tell the story of their romance, they'd cast themselves as the boring, lonely, helpless one whose life got completely swept away by the most fascinating, powerful, chaotic, irresistible person they'd ever met. They both worship the other while looking down on themselves. They both see themselves as the ordinary one who got caught in the other's orbit, powerless to resist. They're both convinced they were the NPC until the other one showed up and made them the protagonist.
This dynamic and way of seeing each other, however romantic, is also the source of their main conflict because when Daniel begs Armand for the Dark Gift, Armand tragically refuses. Daniel sees Armand as this extraordinary being he desperately wants to become and spend eternity with, but Armand worships Daniel's humanity so much that all he can think is, "No. You're too good. I won't ruin you by turning you into someone like me."
ellievsbear
2087
amandla
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
izzy806
blakekathryn
