In the gangster AU I always imagined Judeau being the team medic, but whenever Guts is the one to get his shit kicked in Griffith is first to volunteer medical aid. He’s a terrible doctor
But in brief, no – he stopped when Casca said stop, which kind of nips the idea that it was a rape attempt in the bud. It was an offer, the only way he could really make it without being able to speak, and it’s mainly meant to show how weak, helpless, and desperate he is at this point – particularly as it comes after Wyald helpfully explained how he’ll be dependant for the rest of his life.
And imo it’s meant to be a huge contrast to the Eclipse rape emphasizing Griffith’s lack of power – he’s not offering sex because he wants it, he’s offering because it’s the one thing he can give Casca in exchange for her continued loyalty/care, which fits the transactional pattern of Griffith’s other textual sexual encounters (Gennon for money, Charlotte for her kingdom), and leads directly to his nightmare where he envisions that potential future and immediately tries to kill himself.
I love that if I need to talk about how Griffith’s narrative can be read as gay repression all I need to say is:
his central driving conflict is between a dream represented by a het marriage and his overwhelming feelings for another man
like yeah you can flesh that out with a million additional details, you can really dig into it and examine it and obviously critique it as well, but like, that’s the core of his story – hell that’s the core of berserk – and it’s fundamentally gay.
On the more headcanony side I think that like, Guts would be possessive but he wouldn’t really think of it as possessiveness – it’d feel like a natural extention of their v exclusive, v intense relationship. Griffith would be possessive in turn ofc.
And it wouldn’t manifest in like, being jealous of Charlotte if Griffith still plans to marry her for power. I figure they’d talk about that and Guts would understand it’s business lol, he wouldn’t be threatened by Charlotte. But at the same time he would demand Griffith’s attention and time. Maybe not literally demand lol, but he’s really emotionally needy lbr and I think he’d get sulky if he didn’t get enough time with Griffith bc he’s busy being a king or w/e. We see that in canon even, when he tries to visit him after Zodd but can’t bc of the nobles.
But then like in canon Griffith would reassure him and go out of his way to give him that time and attention because well, he’s also needy and they’re both obsessed with each other and neither wants to spend time apart.
So things like Griffith putting off some king stuff to laze around in bed with Guts would be perfect for Guts. Or things like having sex on the throne at three am when the room’s empty lol, or leaving tea with Charlotte early because the Raider Captain has something important to “discuss” with him. Guts would want to make his claim on Griffith, and have Griffith show that he’s the most important.
But again like, he wouldn’t express that, and Griffith (unless something drastic has gone down) wouldn’t admit to himself that Guts is the most important aspect of his life. But it would still show through in little moments and Guts would notice them (yk assuming no Promrose Hall speech colouring his perception etc etc).
Sexually you got leaving marks under clothes, fucking him hard enough that he still feels it the next day, teasing and drawing it out as a way of focusing Griffith’s attention wholly on him. Like, considering how needy they both are when it comes to wanting the others’ attention and regard and desire, sex could get ridiculously intense lol. We’ve talked about this before a bit but yk it holds true. They just both want to be wanted by the other so badly lol.
On the more meta-y side, I’d argue that their relationship comes with a side of possessiveness from both – again, as a kind of natural byproduct of the singular intensity of it. They are each others’ only one, and they both want to be each others’ only one. I don’t think there’s a lot of like, canon elements that demonstrate Guts being possessive to the same explicit extent of eg Griffith’s “if I can’t have him, I don’t care,” but imo it’s there under the surface.
Guts wants to make Griffith look at him. At first that’s the whole quest for a dream thing, but after the Eclipse it’s his revenge quest. He wants to kill him because, more than anything else, he wants acknowledgement that he matters to him.
This hold on Griffith is exactly what Guts wanted, and still wants.
It doesn’t manifest as jealousy, like we see him trying to set Griffith and Casca up for a while, but it’s more like, yk, that need for attention. He’s possessive of Griffith’s priorities. The reason I think he’s ok with setting Griffith and Casca up is because lover isn’t a category he can see himself fitting into, and moreover, true friend and equal trumps lover anyway as far as he’s concerned. His competition is Griffith’s dream, not Griffith’s other relationships.
I mean you can split hairs on the definition of possessiveness and whether Guts’ feelings count if it’s less jealousy and more wanting to be the most important person to Griffith, but yk I think it’s an element.
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