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This conversation between Louis (yellow) and Lestat (pink) in The Tale of the Body Thief is making me insane
Like
Louis being mean to Lestat and Lestat saying hey that was not nice and Louis says I know I’m sorry it’s just I can’t live without you and it makes me crazy
Lestat's goin' through it.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/76170586/chapters/230722686
The line “No one as angry, as stubborn, as unaccommodating, as maddening, as loving, as dedicated, as thoughtful, as imperfectly perfect as you’ve become. You’re a challenge every sunset, Saint Louis, and I’d have it no other way.” is so important since it shows that the affection in the relationship was not just one-sided.
At that point in their relationship, Lestat, someone that needs constant attention and love felt loved by Louis, felt that he was thoughtful and dedicated.
Showing that Louis probably had a lot of cute and romantic moments with Lestat but just didn’t mention them because he’s still hurt and denying.
I have seen people say that in Loustat’s relationship it feels like Louis has little to no affection for Lestat but that one line right there proofs that wrong since Lestat wouldn’t just say that unless he really felt the love and the dedication from Louis.
And it probably adds on even more why he feels so upset during Louis’s colder years and why he can’t just leave, he knows what it’s like to be loved by Louis and he can’t let that go now, not ever!
Lestat knows their relationship isn’t perfect (what relationship is) but Louis made it worth it with the love that he showed Lestat.
Exactly this! I *cringe* when I see that notion floating around that Louis doesn’t love Lestat or Louis doesn’t ever give him anything emotionally. Like, huh?!?! He absolutely does.
I mean….
In Episode 1, Louis and Lestat are literally dating for months. They’re having dinners together, shopping together for clothes and the townhouse, sitting and talking for hours on their bench, going to operas in which Louis is being vulnerable in front of Lestat and sharing private things with him i.e. Lestat saying “You were near weeping when the curtain fell. Why hide that from your family?” We hear Louis say tender sentiments like “It was a cold winter that year and Lestat was my coal fire.” We see Louis telling Grace that Lestat is different and inviting him to dinner with his family, and the evening culminates in the love scene to end all love scenes 46 years in the making, and Louis confirms Lestat awakened an intimacy in him that he’d never experienced before.
In Episode 2, we get the cute domestic shit like Louis being the pampered king that he is and Lestat being the lovestruck, whipped husband while Louis just knowingly smiles at him. Like, this is a marriage, y’all. These two are obsessed with each other.
In Episode 3, we get Louis being openly flirty with Lestat and more smiles that say way more than words ever could about how Louis feels. He adores Lestat.
“Try something for me, mon cher.”
In Episode 4, Louis and Lestat hit their peak in terms of sickening romance and love and perhaps the cutest, sweetest, most precious moments of the entire season.
“Shh…shh…shh…shh…shh…”
“Don’t you shush me.”
“I missed you.”
“You missed me?”
*warm affectionate chuckles*
*muffled whispers*
“I hated sleeping without you.”
*soft kissing noises*
This sickening (yet telling) shit of them dancing like it’s just regular stuff they do every night. Their dance and those adoring smiles at each other.
Louis looking at Lestat like he hung the moon with that precious smile. Louis teasing him. “I prefer you like that.”
Like, THIS WAS NORMAL FOR THEM.
And even when shit hits the fan, you still have very telling moments of Louis’ feelings based on the fact he did not want to leave Lestat either, the fact Lestat’s love song to him is what finally got his attention, the fact he confesses to Claudia he can’t fully give his heart to Lestat because he’d “lose himself” in Lestat, the fact Louis confesses he wants Lestat all to himself with that “cascade of feelings”, the fact Louis cannot bring himself to burn Lestat like trash, the fact Louis is screaming in agony when it hits him that Lestat is gone….
I just—
Yeah. Don’t tell me Louis didn’t love Lestat or never show him that love. It’s all right there. 🥺😭
The Well With No Bottom
I've been meaning to write a post for all of the Louis haters out there who say that he never gave back any of the love that Lestat was constantly pouring out on him, but I got so caught up in the research that I never actually got around to actually writing the thing.
The main point that I want to make here is that Louis' love for Lestat is just as passionate as Lestat's love for him, if not more so. He just expresses it in a very different way. From books, to big screen, to theatre and television series, Louis has always been far more emotionally repressed than Lestat. Hell, most of the world is far more emotionally repressed when compared to the King of Emotional Expression himself! Louis loves Lestat fiercely, but in his own quiet way.
In Episode 1, on the night they first meet, well before any physical intimacy between the two had ever occurs, Louis, who should be furious with Lestat for snatching Lilly away from him, instead can think of nothing but Lestat. "My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs and I found myself immobilized." If that's not love at first sight, I don't know what is. He's fallen head over heels in mere minutes.
As their friendship progresses, Louis refers to Lestat as his "coal fire" in a cold winter. He points out that, for the first time ever, he found himself confiding his struggles to another man. While confiding in a friend is completely normal, the way it surprises Louis and catches him off guard is not. It becomes obvious that this relationship means something more than friendship to Louis.
Then, of course, we have the scene at the townhouse when Louis finally sets his pent-up desires free. It was him who made the first move to kiss Lestat, not the other way around.
And who initiates that kiss in the church, just before Lestat gives Louis the blood?
It's also important to remember the unreliable narrator of this tale. Louis has clearly left out many moments in his relationship with Lestat that would help the viewer to see it through his eyes. Lestat himself mentions some of these moments in Episode 2, when he starts out by calling Louis angry, stubborn, unaccommodating and maddening then changes his tone to remind Louis that he is also loving, dedicated and thoughtful. Louis may have failed to mention all the moments that cause Lestat to describe him in this way, but Lestat lets us know that they did happen and that no one has ever displayed these admirable qualities to him in quite the same way that Louis has.
While Lestat lavishes praise on Louis to make him feel better after almost killing his nephew, Louis tells Daniel of his feelings for Lestat. "There was present a kind of worship, on my part. The earth beneath me always felt liquid." How many of us can say such a thing about a lover?
To please Lestat, Louis attends another opera. He simmers in indignation as he plays the part of Lestat's valet and walks a few steps behind Lestat instead of by his side, where he wants to be. He tolerates the stares and comments of those around him to ensure that Lestat has a good time. He even drinks from the Tenor with Lestat, pretending to be enthralled by the experience because he doesn't want to disappoint. Louis sets aside his own comfort and happiness for Lestat.
"Aren't I enough?" Louis asks, in Episode 3, about Lestat's little fling with Antoinette. This question comes from a place of utter vulnerability. Louis is admitting his own jealousy and insecurity. And we all know how well Lestat's reaction went over. Of course, by the end of the episode, Louis shoots back at Lestat. Already upset about the way he is being treated and over his complete loss of control with killing Alderman Fenwick, Louis gets angry with Lestat and tells him that the two of them are never going to work and that Lestat will always be alone. He hits where it hurts the most. To quote author Valarie Kaur, "The opposite of love is not rage. The opposite of love is indifference." If Louis didn't love Lestat as much as he does, he couldn't be so passionately infuriated by him. If he didn't love Lestat, he would have no desire to harm him in a moment of rage.
Another perfect example of the above is in Episode 6 when Louis swims across the Mississippi River to confront Lestat about the song. "I hate you," may be the truth in that very moment, but can we truly know hate if we haven't first experienced love?
Also in Episode 6, Louis confesses that despite all that has happened between them, he still loves Lestat with a wounded heart. This is one of the few times that Louis actually uses the "L" word to express what he feels for Lestat. Lestat points out that the way Louis has been killing animals and how he acts somewhat superior about it makes Lestat feel as if he is being looked down upon for his body's needs. Claudia agrees. Once again, without an ounce of consideration for his own comfort or desires, Louis decides, on the spot, that he will hunt humans again for Lestat and for their family.
Episode 7 is a wealth of evidence to support Louis' love for Lestat. Yes, he's agreed to help Claudia with her plot to kill Lestat, but that doesn't make his feelings for Lestat any less valid than they have been all along. Claudia wants him to be a distraction for Lestat, to give Lestat all of his heart while she plans the rest. "I can't do that. I'll lose myself in him," is Louis reply. He knows that if he falls back into old feelings, he won't be able to turn them off. The connection between himself and Lestat is too strong.
When Louis first catches sight of Lestat at the Mardi Gras Ball, he is overwhelmed by conflicting emotion. "A cascade of feelings came over me as I watched him sponge up the adoration. I wanted him dead. I wanted him all to myself." And by the time their last dance begins, Louis has lost himself entirely. "It was my sole duty to distract Lestat, but in his mirrored eyes, the distraction reflected back onto me. And in the dead center of the whispering gallery, I lost the thread to my plotting and fell once more into the well with no bottom. I was his and he was mine." If his words were filled with any more adoration, they would be in a book of love poetry.
Once again, who make the first move to steal a kiss in front of a speechless crowd?
So, to the haters out there who say that Louis is ungrateful and that the only love he ever gave to Lestat was fake or for his own hateful purposes... what in the hell were you watching?
I haven't posted in a while, but here's a little fic for all Loustat enjoyers.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Heavily inspired by @suikamelon6 art. I love your work, honey!
Also, happy birthday @angstosaur , wishing you the best day 🎊🎉🌹
Headcanon: Louis gets furious whenever someone tries it on with Lestat. He doesn't blink an eye when Lestat flirts, because that's just how he is. He doesn't know why but it's one of the few things that awakens his emotions. It throws him into a blind fury. He nearly threw hands with Gregory over it once, like someone had to physically hold him back.
I keep thinking about Louis' love language
I keep coming back to this as time goes on and I think I've finally cracked it. There are several examples in the show of Louis taking care of his family and demonstrating acts of service. He gave Grace an excellent, round-the -world honeymoon and likely paid for her wedding. (At least with the family money) He took care of the girls (as far as we know) by paying them more than the other pimps in the city. He took care of Paul and worried for him, even though he didn't want to send him away. The more the show goes on, the more I lean towards 'Acts of Service.' I think Louis still has some internalized homophobia as far as I can tell. (Hopefully this changes as S3 continues) so I don't think he's a physical touch guy, at least not in public. Or he likes to *Be* touched but feels unsure about initinating (As far as we know). I hope we get to see Louis as an instigator as the new season continues. I love him as a pimp/ business- man/ leader.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/76170586/chapters/228663551
