I honestly enjoying every Vasily's jab about Nikolai being illegitimate bastard.
He really inherited some of the terrible traits from his official family, and at least his mother is a last scum, so this even better illustrates the author's and fandom's bias against the Darkling.
The actor switch with Vasily from season one to season 2 is always so goddamn funny to me, because like I know it's just because they had to switch actors for real world reasons, and he's a small enough character that I'm sure plenty of people didn't notice, but Genya how much work were you doing to make this happen
The grishaverse lacks of patronymics probably Leigh Bardugo again it’s not russian bullshit, which such weak excuse. The only making sense to not have them are Mal and Alina (even then how did get their name if by parents they should definitely be patronymic), while the darkling definitely should him not knowing his father is no excuse or wasn’t that woman on first name basis with the men she fucked , Nikolai And Vasily too cause why aren’t they Nikolai Aleksandrovich (works that even with his real dads name) Lanstov and Vasily Aleksandrovich Lanstov. Well at least it’s not shameless levels with patronymic as last name
okay we’ve talked about how Vasily would react to the Dominik and Natalya situation and we both agreed Vasily would be even worse to a sister than a brother but in general how do you think he’d be towards Natalya?
so much rambling under the cut and none of it is coherent oops
ooh okay so i think he'd definitely echo a lot of their father's beliefs and i think that would include him being INCREDIBLY insistent on knowing about natalya and dominik's relationship (which yknow... not romantic in the slightest for natalya and dominik but vasily and alexander or whatever his name was dont really care about that). i do think their mother having the affair with magnus opjer informs a lot of how natalya is treated especially in regards to dominik (because OBVIOUSLY boys and girls cant be friends with each other smh).
i think he would kind of view natalya as competition of sorts for their parents' affection so he would try to tell on natalya a lot (mostly when they were younger) to get affection points from their parents. also i think he'd be kind of run of the mill misogynist (he kind of already is in canon </3) so that'd end up directed at natalya a lot.
it probably comes from a place of like... "my parents' love is conditional so i'm going to suck up to them and putting my sister down makes me feel better" and then like the king genuinely does prefer him because a) he's like his actual biological son and not the product of an affair, and b) he conforms to what a "lantsov man" should be.
i think he would enjoy being cruel, maybe poisoning just as a power play or maybe to keep natalya quiet about something (i don't know what exactly, but like... i don't know i think the "my brother tried to poison me when i was 12 lol" moment just kinda says a lot about natalya/nikolai's character with how ... flippant it seems?)
Summary - Sometimes you aren't sure if you should slap or kiss Nikolai. This is one of those times. 1.1k words
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“My mother was an oyster,” Nikolai says with a grin before winking at you. “And I’m the pearl.”
“Oh Saints, that was horrible Nikolai Lantsov,” you say with a laugh. This was one of those moments where you really weren’t sure if you should slap him or kiss him. This was always how it went, every evening. You and Nikolai finding yourselves tangled up in the sheets of his bed together, wrapped in each other’s embrace, away from the world and reality.
“I thought you enjoyed my good looks and my wit,” Nikolai responds with a chuckle before pushing himself up on one of his elbows to look at you, lips curving upwards into a grin. It was the kind of grin where you weren’t sure if you should slap him or kiss him.
“No. Quite the opposite,” you tease in response. You prop yourself up on your own elbow.
“The wit or the looks,” the King of Ravka inquires his grin widening. A few golden curls fall into his eyes.
You brush his hair away before responding with a grin of your own. “Both.”
Nikolai’s heart skips a beat at your touch. His free hand brushes over your hip, tracing small circles with his thumb, his gaze never leaving your face. “Now that’s just cruel. I’ve always believed that I’m––”
You cut him off immediately. “Don’t you dare call yourself boyishly handsome again,” you warn.
He looks almost offended. “Why not? What’s wrong with boyishly handsome?”
“You said it, that’s what’s wrong with it,” you respond, trying to suppress a smile still deciding if you should slap him or kiss him.
“Am I meant to believe that you don’t find me terribly handsome,” Nikolai challenges playfully, eyebrows raising slightly as you drop your head back onto the pillow.
You laugh in response, cheeks going slightly rosy. “On the contrary, I find you as beautiful as an unmoving rock with no shine or shimmer.”
He repeats his mock offended look before wrapping his arms around your waist, and half pressing himself on top of you. His chest against yours. “I’m a rock? I suppose that is the reason you cannot seem to get me off of you.”
You half-heartedly try to push him off of you but in truth you want to stay like that forever. Your legs remain tangled with his. “Whatever would Vasily think if he found us here,” you ask with a smile.
“I’m wounded. You lay here with me, yet all you can think about is my brother,” Nikolai asks before dramatically placing his hand over his heart, falling to the side of you.
You rolled your eyes in response before shaking your head. Yes, you certainly could get used to this. After a few moments of silence Nikolai pulls you back into his arms. Your forehead rests against his shoulder as he ghosts his fingers up and down your bare spine. You stay like for a while, a long while. At random times he presses kisses across your face––he middle of your forehead, your temple, cheeks, lips, chin, forehead again. “I meant to talk to you about something earlier today when we passed in the corridor.”
“About what,” you ask him, the Ravkan King’s fingers still gently running up and down your spine.
“Us,” he mutters.
“Mm?” You ask him before he gently presses his lips to yours.
One of his hands travels to your cheek, thumb gently brushing over it, back and forth methodically. The hand on your back pauses just below your shoulder blade. “I have a question. What if I asked you to marry me?”
“What?” You ask, sounding shocked. You did not expect that. You and Nikolai had been seeing each other secretly for almost a year. You preferred it that way. For one, you weren’t be closely inspected and watched by everyone in the court, and for two you were convinced the court and perhaps the people of Ravka would never except you as Nikolai’s choice. You certainly didn’t come from royalty. You were not a Grisha with fancy powers. You were someone who he met by chance. Nikolai’s words pulled you from your own head.
“Will you marry me?” He whispers.
“You and I both know that wouldn’t be wise right now.” You give him a sympathetic look.
This time Nikolai looks actually shocked. Shocked because when would he choose what’s supposedly wise to Ravka’s court when’s he and the Ravkan people are too damn in love with you. “Who cares about what’s wise? I love you and as much as you might not believe it, the people love you too. From what they’ve seen of your work. All I know is that I love you and you are what would be good for the people. Forget about the damn court. I love you and I want you as my spouse. To hell with the fallout. So for Saints’ sake––for my sake, marry me,” he says. He’s clearly determined. His gaze is fixed on you. He doesn’t care about logic, or the flaws in the plan he just wants to be your husband, your lover and best friend from now through eternity.
“So the King of Ravka plans to keep his marriage secret, is that your plan? How would you manage that,” you ask him, skeptical of the entire situation.
Nikolai pulls you even closer to him if that is even possible. “What do you mean ‘secret’? I want everyone to know who and what you are to me. My best friend, my partner, my soulmate, my Queen. To hell with everyone who can’t accept us, but there will be no secrecy on my part. I will stand by the person I love, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks.”
“You and your damn mouth,” you say with a breathy laugh. “I will marry you one condition. We slowly wade in. We don’t tell anyone we are engaged, we get people used to the idea of us then we announce our engagement, and then we get married.”
“As long as I’m with you. Secretly together, engaged, married, whatever.” There is a momentary pause before Nikolai grins again, that same stupid one that makes you unsure if you should slap him or kiss. “I never heard a definitive yes from you, Darling. Will you marry me?”
You let out another breathy laugh before deciding that kissing him was the better option at the moment. Nikolai’s arms tighten around your middle, facing coming closer to you. Then his lips are on yours and you think Yes. The kiss was definitely the right choice.
