I’m in a sharing mood so I’ll confess that I lowkey highkey ship Diomedes/Cassius. They have a delicate balance of parallel and contrasting traits which really appeals to me.
I support any and all ships under the #GiveCassiusABoyfriend movement. Cassius deserves happiness and the fandom deserves undeniably canon bi Cassius content. I’ve seen several boyfriends touted; Apple, Colloway, but above all, Screwface/Cassius (Screwssius) is the prevailing ship. I do like it; I’m more and more fond of it every day, and if it does happen, I’m behind it 200%.
But if I’m being truly honest, I have the softest spot for uhhh Diomessius?? Sure, let’s go with that. There isn’t much, if any, evidence in the way of canon basis for it. I just think the current set up as of the end of Dark Age has the most delicious potential, you know? What happened between the Bleeding Place and Cassius’ return in Dark Age, exactly? How could their relationship develop if Diomedes were to switch sides?
Romulus and Dido are already this series’ parallel to the Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers “two households, both alike in dignity” trope. Both stories ended in tragedy, under wildly different circumstances, of course, but the parallel is there. Iron Gold built up hints that maybe Lysander and Seraphina would be the next Rim/Core romance, but this time maybe ending happily, by uniting the two factions. Dark Age thoroughly subverted this expectation. This series doesn’t need the “happy Rim/Core romance aids in unification efforts” concept by any means, but I do like the idea of it. And what if it was gay? Diomedes and Cassius. Think about it.
I know there’s an extremely vaguely hinted romance between Diomedes and Aurea but I think the “royal falls in love with family sex slave” trope is too simplistic for this series. This particular dynamic squicks me out the same way Quicksilver and Matteo’s relationship makes me uncomfortable. I really hope there is more to Aurea than that.
At this point I’m rambling. This isn’t a serious topic anyway. I will end this by saying there is one (1) fanfic on AO3 and that is a crime.
