penguinmerchant

[penguinmerchant]

top 3 laurent is 3 seconds away from turning damianos into bottomianos scenes from the books?

HELLO DEAR ANON!!! 💖💖💖 I normally don’t have the poster’s temperament but this is a topic I hold dear to my heart and have decided I am willing to investigate.

What I have discovered is that it all starts with the fact that Laurent has two eyes…

NUMBER THREE: POST-ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT MEETING

Laurent has escaped a high adrenaline situation and is now seated slouched on the throne, a powerful aphrodisiac in his system, gazing at Damen so intensely that Damen starts wondering if Laurent is checking him out: 

I do believe Damen’s slut senses were warning him that Laurent wanted to take him right there on the floor. The circumstantial evidence is pretty damning that Damen barely escaped Laurent’s clutches in this scene with his First Night intact. 

NUMBER TWO: RAVENEL

Laurent at last has his mortal enemy exactly where he wants him, in a four-poster bed with soft-lit candles romantically arranged around them. He sets up the ideal conditions to ravish Damen asking him to hold still and goes wild: 

We all know how matters progress. It is fair to say that I believe when a man climbs on top of another man and starts humping him into the sheets his thoughts have taken him in a certain direction… 

By this point in the story Laurent also reveals his true romantic predilections. He wanted to hold Damen’s hands and call it making love. 

NUMBER ONE: MELLOS

It couldn’t be any other moment but their last night together in Mellos. 

I can't add much to this one because it's self-evident how much they want each other. Laurent thinks he's going to die. He spends their night together trying to have as much as he can with Damen. It really is the ultimate almost moment for them which brings me to…

BONUS: TOP ONE MOMENT BOTTOMIANOS WAS DOOMED

Laurent was twenty years old, madly in love and preparing to die for the love of his life. He lasted two seconds after Damen said that to him. RIP.

[penguinmerchant]

Sleeping with the Anemone

Chapter 2/2: 19675 words Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Fandom: Captive Prince - CS Pacat Relationship: Damen/Laurent Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, enemy mafia bosses damen and laurent, halvik and her fujo army, bonus charls story, enemies to lovers

The shadows did nothing more than highlight Laurent's steely grace, the knife sharp definition of his cheekbones, the devastating fall of his hair. Damen had the brief thought that even if they did somehow make it out of here without any permanent injuries, the memories of Laurent's face would scar him for the rest of his life. "Why did you come here today, Damen?" Laurent asked. To negotiate a truce with your organization and make my father proud, was the first answer that came to mind. It's what he should say—straight, to the point, with a bit of sentiment thrown in at the end in case the logical part didn't hit hard enough. The second answer came unbidden, and he kept this one quiet too: I wanted to meet the only other man as steeped in his own mythology as I was. I wanted look behind that facade to see if there was something in him that I recognized.

[penguinmerchant]

Breach of Contract - chapter 5/5

a fic by @penguinmerchant and @wrenaspun, now complete!

Chapters: 5/5, 33,338 words

Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat Relationship: Damen/Laurent Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Rugby Player Laurent, Ballet Dancer Damen, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Pining, Damen is not a sugar baby but he’s not NOT a sugar baby

Damen said, “I’m not sure what it is you’re asking me to do.” “It’s simple enough,” said Laurent. “Come to my games, cheer me on in the stands. Be my date to a few networking events. And most importantly, let the press see how blissful domesticity with you has softened me.”

[penguinmerchant]

"He loves me!"

[penguinmerchant]

Guy who is touch starved but emotionally repressed goading you into punching him for completely normal reasons

[penguinmerchant]

love your ruby/ballet au so much!!! im not really a follower of rugby or ballet, but i did play cricket for a while and the anxieties about your body resonate so much with me. but i was wondering...you mentioned a while ago that you had a national rugby league au wip, but both damen and laurent were supposed to be on the team, is this a different version of that or are these two different works altogether?

Thank you anon, I'm so happy you're enjoying it!!! @penguinmerchant and I had a blast writing it out :) As for my NRL AU, you're right, it's a separate fic - you're very sharp-eyed! At this point I should probably just post the ~3k that I have since I haven't touched it for ages and don't know if it ever will become a full-fledged fic of its own, but hope springs eternal I suppose...... We shall see what happens, myself most of all

[penguinmerchant]

Breach of Contract - chapter 3

a fic by @penguinmerchant and @wrenaspun!

Chapters: 3/5, 18,089 words

Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat Relationship: Damen/Laurent Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Rugby Player Laurent, Ballet Dancer Damen, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Pining, Damen is not a sugar baby but he’s not NOT a sugar baby

Damen said, “I’m not sure what it is you’re asking me to do.” “It’s simple enough,” said Laurent. “Come to my games, cheer me on in the stands. Be my date to a few networking events. And most importantly, let the press see how blissful domesticity with you has softened me.”

[penguinmerchant]

Tiny Book fic binding!

My latest binding! I bound Yekoc's "The Tall Kingdom I Surround" which is one of my favorite Capri fics ever. Now, I must tell you this book is very tiny. It may look very large in this picture but I assure you it it tiny.

Duo cloth and purple, green and gold marbled paper on the cover with two golden lines traveling from the upper left side to the bottom right. And the endpapers match the front paper as well (more pics under the cut)

Isn't it GORGEOUS paper, Renalto Crepaldi of course, I just can't get enough of the deep, rich colors in these papers. I don't know why I needed this to be green and purple but I couldn't imagine this in any other colors. The oat colored duo cloth was chosen to enhance how neat this paper is. I love it so much.

Here's a pic with another one of my bindings to show the size. Final measurements were about 2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall.

So this is my first tiny book (I LOVE tiny books, they are so cute) but it came with its own host of new problems. Cutting the paper was a bit nerve wracking and it came out a bit wonky in places; the tiny size made for a very small margin of error.

My biggest mistake was the incorrect spine size; not even a problem with tiny books, just bookbinding in general. I really should have known better.

You can see it's probably 1mm too big on the left hand side. Makes it so it doesn't close properly, the pic above shows it in its natural state. A bit unfortunate, but it's not going to stop me from making more tiny books! ALSO tiny books mean I can get so many more books out of each (very expensive) piece of marbled paper. I do like this design, it's a lot more plain than my others but it was also a lot easier to make and less fussy without having to use the HTV.

Let me know if you have any questions! And if Yekoc happens to see this post---contact me and I will make you an author copy!!

[penguinmerchant]

a fic by @penguinmerchant and @wrenaspun!

Chapters: 1/5, 6099 words

Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat Relationship: Damen/Laurent Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Rugby Player Laurent, Ballet Dancer Damen, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Pining, Damen is not a sugar baby but he’s not NOT a sugar baby

Damen said, “I’m not sure what it is you’re asking me to do.” “It’s simple enough,” said Laurent. “Come to my games, cheer me on in the stands. Be my date to a few networking events. And most importantly, let the press see how blissful domesticity with you has softened me.”

[penguinmerchant]

Piranesi concept art!

I hadn’t seen anyone really tackle the drowned halls yet (as far as I know) so I thought I’d take a crack at it to practice painting environments

[penguinmerchant]

Fandom Trumps Hate 2025

I am participating in Fandom Trumps Hate 2025!

Obviously the fic is question will be Captive Prince, because I am incapable of writing anything else. I'm offering a 5-10k fic with a starting bid of $10.

You can look at my offering here!

And if you want to look at any more of the Captive Prince offerings, we have eight up for auction this year! Including one by the lovely @wrenaspun, who encouraged me to sign up this year. There are lots of great writers there, so please go take a look!

Bidding starts today, so if you're interested in having a specific work made just to your liking OR if you just want to support some really awesome charities, I hope to see you there!

[penguinmerchant]

Kinda on a whim, I decided I'd turn my "Cats in Windows" illustrations into a mini-zine........ just a tiny lil booklet I printed+folded at home last night......

(I love that feelin when u think "It'd be cool if i made that into a thing..." and then suddenly you've made it into A Thing, and now you're holding it in your hands 🥹)

if you'd like one too btw, i put it up in my ko-fi :")

[penguinmerchant]

[penguinmerchant]

Happy Valentine's Day from Damen and Laurent, who say the most romantic things 💖

Bonus:

[penguinmerchant]

THIS PIC that Candy drew, it's AMAZING! The knife, the smirks, the little heart next to Laurent's name...it's perfect. And there is NOTHING hotter than holding a blade to your lover/mortal enemy's throat. This is from a scene in Black Holes and Revelations, by the way.

[penguinmerchant]

You GUYS!!!

reposting here with cannedebonbon's permission -- everyone LOOK at this gorgeous selkie-verse art that she's created!!! I'm so obsessed with it, the outfits, the background, their postures -- isn't it wonderful?? I've been staring at this for eight hours. Please go show some love to the original post if you have a bluesky account!

[penguinmerchant]

part 1

from left to right: Laurent, Damen, Nicaise, Orlant, Aimeric, Jord