Saeran de Winter, my love, MC of "Creme de la Creme" game by @hpowellsmith.
Amazing drawing by mistfall_crow. I'm gonna commission them to draw Hartmann and them both together too, and i'm gonna babble a LOT about Saeran and Hartmann again, okay?
- It was by no means love at first sight or a smooth ride – they have grown to appreciate and love each other through many steps of honesty and respect toward each other, through misunderstandings and miscommunications, and they've learned to understand and be supportive to each other first. Saeran did like Hartmann in a friendly way almost from the off, but they had a massive crush on Blaise at that point. They still lowkey do but won’t act on it.
- Saeran respects and admires the fact that Hartmann always tells them the truth despite obviously stressing over it, especially that time when he confessed that he liked them but was afraid of being associated with their family reputation. It wasn’t pleasant one bit, but Hartmann could just lead them on or pretend that nothing happens between them, yet he chose to be painfully honest at the risk of looking bad. This emotional bravery meant a lot for Saeran. As a response, when Hartmann went with them to the winter ball despite being worried about his reputation, they chose the most proper clothes and behavior despite that normally they'd choose to be more flamboyant about their outfit, just to show Eugene that they respect his worries, care about his reputation, and won’t hurt it if they can help it. They did help him rebel against his controlling parents later, and oh boy, did they give his parents a piece of their mind. Though aside from standing up for Eugene when they push him too much and too unfairly, Saeran is always polite with Saeran.
- Hartmann's mother coldly tolerates Saeran. She is always perfectly polite as well, but doesn't like them much because they've put in [formerly manageable] Eugene's head this atrocious idea that in order to be loved and accepted he doesn't have to be perfect all the time and always do everything "right", or to live up to someone's expectations and sacrifice his own ambitions to deserve recognition. The audacity! Hartmann’s father mostly follows suit with cool politeness but reluctantly admits that maybe Saeran isn’t that bad for Eugene because his son has grown some backbone, ans mr. Hartmann Sr is even [his definition of] friendly with them sometimes.
I decided to embrace the AU about my CDLC MC as a teacher later as canon because the vibes are <3.
