Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

• this truly does go without saying, but courting and staying in a long-term relationship with idia shroud is by no means an easy thing to accomplish. in fact, unless you have ortho’s help and a whole lot of patience it’s practically impossible to do so — and by design, too, as he has absolutely no interest in socialising with anyone irl (and certainly not with any normies). but if you roll a crit on your charisma and persistence stats, and are willing to deal with everything that loving a shroud entails, then you’ll find yourself with a geeky lover who has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to romance but puts his all into showing you how much he appreciates and adores you regardless (even if that means engaging in all the same behaviours he’d previously either delegated as being cringe outright or as only existing in the weird world of dating simulator games)
• you may be the person that he’s the most comfortable being himself around, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t have his moments where his anxiety gets the better of him and he needs to reach for his tablet to talk to you instead. please don’t take it personally, and please don’t assume that this means he wants you to leave because he doesn’t, he just can’t control his anxiety is all. with time these episodes will become less and less frequent, but by then you’ll be very well acquainted with the text-to-speech voice option on his tablet and all of the signs that he’s about to go temporarily mute — which also makes you great at covering for him on the rare occasions where he does venture out of his room but can’t quite mentally cope with all of the people around him (ortho is just appreciative to have some more help on that front)
• you are the only person outside of ortho who he will always welcome into his space, even when he’s mentally at his worst. you have your own access code to his dorm and his room at home, a spare drawer and section of his wardrobe to keep your spare clothes, an extra gaming chair that he made himself to be as comfortable as possible for you specifically, and he even sacrificed room in his stache of snacks to make sure he had some of your favourites on hand at all times. and him always being prepared for you to stay is the closest you’ll get to an open invitation to make yourself at home and stay for as long as you want… even if he’s usually a touch too prideful, or a touch too anxious, to outright ask after you himself… so do with that what you will
• because of the shroud family’s curse, if you want to spend your life with idia its a given that you’ll inevitably end up living on the isle of woe where he grew up. it’s also a given that you’ll end up involved with s.t.y.x in some way after he takes over from his parents, but that’s less a direct result of the curse and more so a result of you marrying into the family that runs that organisation — don’t worry, though, he doesn’t expect you to take over what his mum was doing as the chief director, as long as you’re doing something he’s happy. plus between him and ortho taking over most of the organisations operations you aren’t really left with much of a choice but to take over some of the smaller duties… yay?
• much to idia’s unending mortification, his parents both absolutely adore you and cannot wait for you to finally join the shroud family — to the point of endlessly pestering him about locking you down and proposing (which he is nowhere near ready to do yet), and asking about you every time they get on the phone with him. ortho at the very least is polite enough to not tease him about you as much as their parents, but he is also remarkably unsubtle about his desire for you two to get married and for you to become his older sibling officially. and don’t get idia wrong, he’s grateful that his family approve of you and are so supportive of you both… but they’re just… a lot… and he could really do without all the questions whenever he goes back home, you know?
• the vast vast majority of the dates you two have together will take place inside, ideally in one of your bedrooms or another quiet area where you don’t have to worry about being interrupted. some will be more relaxed (like movie nights or tabletop gaming or the rare occasions where you role a crit on charisma and convince him to do a spa day with you) and others will be much more active (like attending concerts online and dancing along to the choreography on stage, or playing video games together and crushing noobs as a team — sometimes as a trio if muscle red is online and decides to help you two out), but no matter what he always manages to make sure that you have fun with him
• now that you’re in a relationship with him, idia has positioned himself as the only person you should be going to if you ever need help with anything related to tech — be that repairing one of your existing devices or even creating something entirely new just for you (because,yes, he is whipped and will go that far for you if ever you ask). and if you ever go to someone else, sevens forbid another ignihyde student, he will get so huffy and pouty about it (because why would you even need to look at another tech guy when he’s right there and so much better than them and more than happy to help… yes he’s jealous, no he will not admit to it)
• it almost goes without saying that idia is very protective over you, especially given what happened to his baby brother all those years ago, and while he may not be there physically to keep you out of harm’s way he does always try to keep an eye on you no matter where you are. both to be able to warn you in advance if anything seems to be kicking off and so he knows when to send ortho his way to deal with the threats in a more tangible way when avoidance is impossible — and even when nothing actually happens it just soothes his anxiety to be able to see you and know you’re okay even when you’re apart… so his light stalking is going to be something you’ll have to adjust to once you’re together
• he never really properly processed and addressed his grief and guilt following the original ortho’s passing — not until everything that happened directly preceding, during, and following his overblot, anyway. and now that he’s finally getting the chance to confront his feelings on the matter without throwing himself into project after project to hide from them, it’s so vitally important to him that he has you to lean on throughout the process. to have you, his partner, there to listen and support him in ways that his parents and ortho just can’t. and while it will take him a while to feel comfortable enough to open up to you completely about what he went through, just know that your consistent presence and unconditional love did a whole lot in the way of helping him stay afloat while he addressed his feelings even long before he fully sat down and talked to you about everything
• most of what he says is either straight up online slang or derived from various forms of ‘geek speak’, which means that throughout the course of your relationship you’re going to end up becoming pretty fluent in it. more than fluent enough to be able to tell the difference between him lightheartedly teasing you and whenever he starts to compliment you… as well as, eventually, fluent enough to start turning the tables and flirting with him using the same slang he always uses with you (and absolutely breaking him in the best possible ways as a result)
• idia has spent most of his life as a complete shut in, with you being his first (and last) partner and thus the first person to ever express any desire to be physically affectionate with him. and that… that’s something that’s going to take a while for him to get used to. maybe even years. of course he’s not entirely opposed to being tactile with you or vice versa, but it’s going to have to be a very slow process because of how touch starved idia is and how easily he gets flustered (and pink haired) from any sort of unexpected physical touch from you. just give it time, though, and as his confidence around you grows he’ll start to initiate things on his own and respond more naturally to any physical affection you show him… though he will always end up with at least some pink in his hair no matter how long you’ve been together… just don’t bring it up in front of others, okay?
• the longer you’re together, and the more confident and comfortable he gets around you, the more you’ll get to see of his smug/cocky side as he welcomes you into his world and shows you the many things he’s talented at — such as gaming, both tabletop and online, and all things related to technomancy (because he wasn’t noted as a prodigy in childhood for nothing!). it’s a very stark difference between how cool and eager he acts now versus how withdrawn and anxious he was in the early days of getting to know you, but it’s also sweet in a way being able to see just how much your relationship has grown in such an obvious way (even if his cockiness can border on obnoxious on occasion, but only when he’s facing someone else — he very very rarely ever gets that way with you as, believe it or not, he doesn’t want to end up single again)
• it’s kind of easy to forget sometimes that idia does, in fact, come from a very wealthy and noble family, but as his partner you’re certain to become very well acquainted with just how much money the shroud family has because of idia’s habit of spoiling you. of showering you with all the difficult to find merch and new personalised gadgets and tickets to all of your favourite in-person events that you could possibly ask for — and then some. and that’s not even accounting for how much money he’s willing to put behind you to help you pursue your passions and interests and hobbies… what? he can be supportive too! ortho isn’t the only nice person in the family, you know (of course he’s only nice to you and his baby brother, but that’s just semantics at this point)
• idia has a lot of pet names that he uses with you, switching between them based on his mood and where you are at the time. some are more traditional and mild, like ‘babe’, and are the ones he sticks to when he’s around his parents or coworkers at s.t.y.x. others are more affectionate and only really used when he’s in a very good mood and when you’re completely alone (e.g. ‘agapi mou’, ‘fos mou’, ‘psychi mou’). but more often than not he’s either gonna call you by your name, by your nickname of choice, by your gamer tag (if you’re as online as he is), or by a term of endearment so chronically geeky that it would require basically an entire thesis on twisted wonderland’s unique online ecosystem to understand — but that he manages to pull off regardless of how cringe they may sound to others. he also calls you his ‘player two’ sometimes too… can’t forget that one
• you are his first ever partner and contrary to what he had hoped going into your relationship, the many many dating simulator games he played in the past did very little to help him find his footing when it came to actually courting and being with you. and as he’s extremely stubborn, idia refuses to look to anyone else for advice (including just drawing from what he’s seen from his own parents growing up, who are in a very strong and loving marriage), so you can expect there to be a lot of trial and error on his end for the first few months of your relationship… and maybe even a handful of arguments if you happen to have a lack of patience when it comes to his clumsy (if endearingly cringe) attempts to recreate and reenact some of the scenes from the romance games and manga and animes he’s indulged in over the years… please be patient with him, he’s trying his best
• it takes him a long time to work up the courage to actually kiss you — partially out of his own anxiety, and partially because he’s very aware of his dental situation and has had recurring nightmares of messing up and straight up biting through your lips or tongue somehow. yeah maybe it’s for the best that you take the lead and stick to mainly chaste pecks on the lips or cheeks for a while
• it’s no secret that idia never attends his classes in person if he has the choice. you, however, don’t have that same privilege and idia knows this and (lovingly) bullies you for the fact that you have to go outside and deal with people while he gets to chill out in his dorm all day. even though you both know that he’s going to be practically counting the minutes until classes end and you can reunite, and periodically messaging you with any memes or videos he found and thought would make you laugh in the short break between lessons…
• prior to getting into a relationship with you, idia had a nasty habit of dismissing any form of affection between couples as being ‘normie cringe’ — e.g. cuddling, kissing, sharing clothes, being all verbally lovey-dovey and so on — but now that he has you and he finds himself being on the receiving end of those same gestures he’s come to discover just how much he enjoys them. even to the point of acting all smug and talking crap to anyone who calls him ‘cringe’ or ‘whipped’ for doing all of those things with you (though only online as he… well… isn’t the best at dealing with irl social interactions, but through a screen he is much more prone to get all cocky and start fights with people)
• before you the only things that could ever get idia to willingly leave his room were ortho’s desperate pleading or events centred around premo that he couldn’t attend online for one reason or another — well, those and the mandatory exams and birthday get togethers, but those he only ever really attended under some degree of duress so he doesn’t count them. now that you’re an item, however, idia has found himself venturing out of his dorm room far more often than before — and pretty much always either at your request or of his own volition to spend time with you at your dorm. of course it’s still way out of his comfort zone and requires him to hype himself up a lot in advance, but progress is progress and him even making an effort to go outside speaks volumes for how much he actually cares about you
• he would sooner ask rook about his thoughts on his housewarden than ever admit to this, no matter how glaringly obvious it may be to you and his brother, but idia has a lot of insecurities about his appearance and his curse and his personality and that has led to him developing a nasty jealous streak. not to the point where he ever takes it out on you because he’s not that type of guy, but to the point where whenever he thinks you’re getting particularly close to a guy he perceives as in some way more ‘appealing’ than himself he will start to sink into a spiral of self loathing — alternating between making self deprecating comments and shit talking the person in question while cyberstalking them to try and figure out what about them makes you want to spend time with them and not him. yes he knows this is a bad habit to have. no he can’t stop once he’s started. but with enough patience and reassurance and quality time from you, he can be coaxed out of his spiralling — and to his credit he does get better about coping with his insecurity and jealousy as he gets older and as he gets more confident and secure in your relationship