dragonlady7

beshelar, yes i had that headcanon that it was anxiety as well

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star-anise https://star-anise.tumblr.com/post/634263399248871424:

Goblin Emperor thought: I honestly think Deret Beshelar is horrendously socially awkward and a lot of what Maia reads as judgment is plain old anxiety

Also, one day he’ll be on duty at one of the Emperor’s public appearances and Cala will say, “Your parents are in the crowd over there, aren’t they?” and the Emperor, to Deret’s horror, will overhear this, and he will have to admit to His Imperial Serenity that yes his parents are visiting Cetho for the week. He will manage to avoid the disgrace of missing a shift when the Emperor offers to give him more time with them, but by some evil mischance he will have to introduce his parents to the Emperor, and not-quite sink through the floor with embarrassment as his very ordinary middle-class parents tell the Emperor stories about Deret’s childhood.

“I thinked he liked it very much,” Cala will say to him later, and it will help. “I think he likes hearing about… children. Families.”

And Deret will think, He didn’t get a lot of that himself, and struggle with a wave of anger he can’t do anything about. But he’ll see a gentle light in his Emperor’s eyes whenever the subject of his parents comes up, and feel less ashamed and awkward about them for a long time to come.