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“It's impressive, especially for a man your age -- and in *those* heels... Nice shoes, by the way. I like the green. Goes well with the orange.” He looks at your snakeskin shoes and smiles, suddenly.

I love this quote for the simple fact that despite spending a whole day with Harry -- the man who has been blowing Kim off for two days, who purportedly recalls nothing about the world, least of all why he's even in Martinaise, who has been running around town doing things from the inane to the inappropriate to everything in between, who probably smells as fermented as everything he has imbibed -- Kim still finds something to admire in him.

#disco elysium #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #harrykim

Been thinking about Disco Elysium and the beautiful miracle of Harry and Kim's relationship.

Harry is so open and tuned in to the world that he feels it all too much, everything magnified tenfold — the beauty and the cruelty, the heals and the hurts, the failure most of all. It eats away at him, wearing him down like a river stone bit by bit. The drugs and alcoholism are a way to cope — riding out the highs and obliterating the lows. Harry is like a shooting star, speeding across the sky at a thousand miles per hour, able to reach inhuman heights. But with those heights also comes the fall, and when he comes down, it's inevitably in flames.

By contrast, there is Kim: grounded, feet planted so firmly in the dirt that he has lost the ability to wonder. What exists is only what is tangible, that which can be written in black ink in his notebook or captured in a photograph. There's a deliberation in every choice he makes, from his clothes to his smoking habit to his opinions. Out of necessity, he built himself like a tower, brick by brick, and set himself in defiance of a world that had already decided who he should be or where he belonged. But because of that rigidity, he cannot crack, cannot falter, cannot fuck up. He is always on the cusp of being on the outside and he would rather die than give the world a reason. Sometimes it's better to stay still than to risk.

When they eventually meet, there's no reason to think that it will work. But somehow they find a way to fit together, in amongst the chaos and all their flaws and foibles. When Harry is on the verge of flying away or burning up, Kim is there to tether him to earth. When Kim doesn't allow himself the leniency to imagine, holds himself too rigid and unyielding, Harry is there to coax him along, to bring a spark of the impossible. It's such an unlikely, once in a lifetime, strangely perfect partnership that they find themselves thrust into, neither there by choice but muddling along anyway. Through the shit and mud and stupidly small odds, they solve an impossible case together. Somehow, they create a miracle and it's honestly beautiful.

#disco elysium #disco elysium meta #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #harrykim

fic commentary: when you're ready (let me know) (dimileth)

The idea for this story hit me like a bolt of lightning. I can’t remember what prompted it, but I do remember staying up until 2.30am that night frantically writing every idea I could think of. The whole story took me a month to write from start to finish, which is honestly fast for me, but I felt possessed by the (horny) energy of this office AU.

The modern setting was an opportunity to see how Dimitri and Byleth react to one another without the angst and heaviness of canon, where the only difficulties are the normal relationship stuff — communicating, labels, meeting family, that sort of thing.

I had so much fun writing the attraction between Dimitri and Byleth — I wanted it to be instant, intense, and sweep them both away. I adore the idea that in any world, if these two would cross paths, they would be pulled into each other’s orbit without fail.

Something I did want to convey was the progression of their relationship and the idea of putting your heart on the line with every step. Modern relationships are a dance with both people figuring out the steps: who’s going to make the first move, how fast, how slow. At the beginning of the story, it’s always Byleth taking the initiative — she kisses him, she starts the relationship talk, invites him to meet Jeralt. But gradually, Dimitri starts to become more daring and initiates more steps — he asks her to move in, he kisses her at the office, he says ‘I love you’. He learns to reciprocate the openness she has shown him and trust his feelings.

Lastly, my favourite trope to write in this story? The idea that Byleth was interested in Dimitri well before the events of the story. That she took pains to work with him specifically. Dimitri spends so much of the fic thinking Byleth could do so much better than him, that she could have anyone she wanted... to find out that she's only ever wanted him from the start. It's why he throws caution to the wind and proposes to her on the spot — he's fully accepted how gone he is on her, not to mention she's down just as bad. It’s a trope that gets me every time in fiction, so I could absolutely not resist including it here.

Songs I listened to on repeat while writing:

DPR LIVE - Text Me (Colors ver)

DEAN - Love (Colors ver)

#dimileth #fic commentary #my fic #fe3h #dimitri x byleth #fire emblem three houses

fic: when you're ready (let me know) (dimileth)

When you’re ready (let me know) by redmorningstar

Fic Commentary

"Thanks for inviting me to dinner. It was nice," she said when they reached the door of her apartment.

"Anytime," Dimitri said and meant it. She smiled again. Everything Byleth did was deliberate. So when she stepped into his space to press her mouth against his, he knew it wasn't a spur of the moment impulse; she kissed him because she wanted to.

"Do you want to come in?" She asked when she pulled back, again deliberate. Dimitri was buttoned up and old-fashioned, not the type to fall into bed with someone after what might have been their first date together; he had always thought there were rules to this sort of thing. And yet somehow those seemed trivial, so utterly unimportant when Byleth was looking at him like that.

"I'd love to," Dimitri said.

Where Dimitri and Byleth figure out working together, dating, and sex — but not necessarily in that order. A modern office AU.

#dimileth #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #byleth #dimitri x byleth #my fic

redmorningstar

fic: through the night (dimitri/byleth)

Through the Night by redmorningstar

"Your hands are so warm... Have they always been?”

Byleth’s hand was small in his but her grip was strong, the message clear even without words: I will never let you go. She was his anchor in the storm and he clung to her, wanting desperately for the words to be true. Dimitri dropped his head and gently pressed his face to her hand. The touch of it soothed the chill and ache in his head, just a little. Her thumb stroked the curve of his cheek, the same side as his ruined eye, with a tenderness that burned him. He didn’t deserve such things, not from her. Especially not from her.

Takes place directly after that scene in the rain. Spoilers for Dimitri and Byleth's A-support conversation.

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