Merthur Fanart! Bc I Havent Drawn Them Inna While

Security guards don't want to see me win 😔

1. Luc attempts to kiss Oliver w/o consent. He does apologize however it feels ungenuine due to his later actions. During the scene, he villainizes Oliver for not wanting to kiss: 

“Oliver collided with one of the potted plants outside the restaurant, just about managing to grab it before it came crashing down. Which basically meant he’d spent more time voluntarily touching a ficus than he had me,” (Hall, Ch 8). 

We are meant to laugh at Luc’s misfortune at this moment. He has comically bad luck which adds humor to his terrible situation. However, in doing so, he villainizes Oliver by making it seem like he finds Luc gross or untouchable. After this, he proceeds to verbally ridicule Oliver over it: 

“’It was a kiss,’ I [Luc] said, with a nonchalance I was far from feeling. ‘Why? Haven’t you [Oliver] had one before? People sometimes exchange them on dates,’” (Hall, Ch 8).

 He is minimizing Oliver’s reaction by making it seem like his lack of interest in kissing Luc is socially unacceptable and weird. He is literally shaming him. He does this on multiple occasions in THE SAME conversation: 

“’But please don’t kiss me [Oliver] again. Not on the mouth anyway.’ ‘Why? Are you Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman?’ His blush deepened. ‘No. I simply prefer to reserve that intimacy for people I actually like,’ (Hall, Ch 8). 

 He is calling Oliver a prude for not wanting to kiss him and blaming the awkward situation he caused.

2. I realize that Luc is supposed to be a cynical and sarcastic character, which is fine. Flaws like those are important to well-rounded characters. However, in the same conversation directly after the scene above, Luc thinks this: 

“He [Oliver] was never going to call me Lucien again, was he? He was going to respect my wishes like some kind of arsehole,” (Hall, Ch 8). 

 I cannot express how tone-deaf this line is. It’s genuinely disgusting.

3. Luc realizes what he has done is wrong and even explicitly calls it SA: 

“’It was awful. We have nothing in common. I [Luc] think I might have sexually assaulted him [Oliver]. But we are going to pretend we’re both desperate,’” (Hall, Ch 9).

 This excerpt highlights the hopeless situation Luc has found himself in. It is played as humorous as seen in Bridget’s reply: 

“’I knew you’d work it out,’” (Hall, Ch 9). 

The irony is that the situation didn’t really “work out.” Furthermore, the situation is continued to be played as funny and Oliver is blamed and minimalized: 

“’I [Luc] attacked him [Oliver] with my lips and he was so repulsed he jumped into a potted plant.’ ‘Maybe he was surprised.’ ‘I was surprised when you guys threw me a surprise birthday party. [...] But I didn’t pull away in horror, saying I only go to parties with people I like. [...] replace go to parties with kiss.’ [...] She sighed. ‘Oliver, Oliver. What are you doing?’” (Hall Ch 9).

Luc refers to the unsolicited kiss as “attacking him with my lips” which is meant to put a funny light on the situation. The wording is clearly meant to be laughed at. When Luc explains Oliver setting boundaries and telling Luc not to kiss him, Bridget reprimands him. She makes it sound like Oliver is the one who messed the situation up and should have kissed Luc despite being uncomfortable with it.

4. Oliver has physically and verbally rejected any romantic or sexual passes from Luc. However, Luc continues to cross these boundaries that Oliver has set. 

“‘Yeah, you’re [Oliver] supposed to just wear the bottoms, and have them hanging low on your hips, displaying your perfectly chiseled V-cut.’ [...] I [Luc] thought about this for a moment. ‘Are you saying you have a perfectly chiseled V-cut?’ ‘I’m not sure that’s any of your business.’ ‘What if someone asks? I should know for verisimilitude.’ The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. ‘You can say I’m a gentleman and we haven’t gotten that far,’“ (Hall Ch 14).

Luc makes another pass here. He shuts down Luc’s comments by saying it is none of his business. When Luc continues to press, Oliver shuts him down again. The problem here is that they have shared jokes of a sexual nature before. However, this time the tone is very different. Oliver is clearly uninterested in pursuing the conversation. Despite his obvious uncomfortably, Luc continuously brings it up.

“Come evening, he’d [Oliver] check in before and after hitting the gym, and diligently ignore my request for updates on his V-cut,” (Hall Ch 15).

Even after getting shut down, he continues to break boundaries. 

5. Given everything he knows about Oliver and his adverse nature to a sexual relationship with Luc, Luc still decides it’s appropriate to suggest having sex.

“‘Why don’t we have sex?’ His [Oliver] mouth twisted quizzically. ‘I don’t think that would be appropriate at a fundraiser.’ [...] ‘No. I mean, like now.’ ‘I beg your pardon?’“ (Hall 19).

At this point, it is just sexual harassment. Oliver is not interested but Luc just continues to ignore the signs. To make matters worse, he gets defensive and portrays Oliver as the problem in the situation. He makes it seem like Oliver is obliged to take up the offer and is strange for rejecting it.

“‘Jesus, Oliver.’ I [Luc] rolled my eyes. ‘Who responds to a come-on with I beg your pardon?’ ‘That wasn’t a come-on. That was... I don’t even know what it was.’ [...] ‘Okay. Bad idea. You asked how we could be more comfortable touching in public, and I came up with a situation. Excuse me for thinking outside of the box,’ (Hall Ch 19).

Luc becomes snarky and defensive when his pass is shot down like it is a personal offense. Luc doesn’t care about Oliver’s personal boundaries, he is merely interested in serving his own pleasures.

6. Oliver tells Luc that he isn’t interested in one-night stands:

“I [Oliver] realize you [Luc] did not meet me when I was at the pinnacle of my self-esteem, but it still takes more to get me into bed than ‘Why don’t we have sex. I mean, like now’ ‘We had dinner first.’ ‘Dinner at which you freely admit you were a dick to me and to your friends,’ (Hall Ch 19).

 This is a personal opinion he is entirely entitled to have and Luc should respect. However, his response is entirely unwarranted:

“‘Tell you [Oliver] what. Let’s stop talking about how much you don’t want to have sex with me.’ ‘I’m sorry,’“ (Hall Ch 19).

Luc took Oliver pointing out his mistakes personally when Luc was clearly in the wrong. He turned himself into the victim by making the situation about how Luc is not sexually attractive. Oliver ends up apologizing when he shouldn’t feel bad for having sexual boundaries.

7. Luc is a hypersexual character which is entirely fine. However, despite him having a deep sexual interest, he is unable to accept other peoples’ sexual preferences.

“‘I [Oliver] know it’s unfashionable, but I don’t think sex is something you should do just because it’s convenient.’ ‘Why? Is everyone supposed to wait until they’ve got this deep, meaningful connection and can gaze into each other’s eyes while they make tender love by an open fire?’ He visibly unsoftened,” (Hall, Ch 19).

Rather than simply accepting Oliver’s preferences, Luc goes out of his way to insult him about it. And by his body language, Oliver is clearly upset about it. Luc can’t seem to grasp the idea that his every sexual whim can’t be met and people aren’t going to want everything he does. It’s frankly childish.

This book actively made me a hater

No thoughts just Leon's biceps

The sillies!! they’re athletes! they survive on cigarettes! It’s okay!!

He pretends he doesnt like drunk neil. Its a lie

I just turned 17 and so did ao3. It's kinda weird to think we're the same age :/

New year, new obsession 🦊

I'm glad I looked past the first sentences of aftg, which really made me want to just close the book and never open it again. After a while, I somehow fell in love with that mess 💓

No specific scene or anything, just thought about how I imagine Andrew, Aaron and Kevin could look like (kind of at least)

HUH??!???!???!!?

i just found out that palmetto state university is a very REAL university??????

Yessss, and like they're like still super angry and heated but it's kinda charged?!? Like Neil is straddling Riko, putting all of his weight on him so he doesn't move while throwing punches. And Riko gets a punch in and it breaks Neil's nose but the blood drips down and lands on Riko's lips. He licks it in instinct or somthing.

If aftg ever gets a tv show and does not make the scene where Neil and Riko fight as homoerotic as possible I do not want it

Faces a breath apart, one of them has a hand on the other shirt collar, both brawling on the floor, clothes crumpled, hair messy and faces bruised. DO YOU SEE MY VISION?????