People who really like shuake also seem to write themselves into a corner wrt Akechi and his relationship to Akiras team. Contrary to popular belief, the team, including Haru, does not hate Akechi. At worst, they tolerate him and deal with his attitude. Hes a good teammate and respectable fighter and the team recognizes that at the end of the day, he was a teenager who was manipulated and abused by a man who saw him as disposable. Just about every thief understands this intimately. They have the same mindset wrt adults who take advantage of the people beneath them. Under different circumstances they wouldve been friends. And if u approach it from that angle, it becomes less about Akechi being the sole person who ‘gets’ Akira, and more about the thieves being the only people in the world who ‘get’ Akechi.
When you expand your thoughts to include the thieves as members of his Team and not roadblocks that get in the way of your ideal shipping dynamic, you allow urself to give Akechi and Akira more depth and nuance to their own relationship.
Akira and Akechi are wildcards; both of them struggle with the face they choose to display to the world. Its the first time Akira interacts with someone who is, at a literal, technical level, his ‘equal’. But Akechi is one of many firsts for Akira yeah? Every thief has their bond with Akira thats completely unique and personal. Akechi will never be the person who witnesses Akiras Awakening, hes never the person who watches Akira have his restless nights alone in the attic, and hes never the person who realizes in real time that the teenager hes housing is just Some Kid, not the delinquent hes been warned about. Hes not Ann or Yusuke, or any of the thieves; he doesnt have the time or experience that they have with Akira, and I think its interesting to explore that part of their relationship, shippy or not.
Akechi is someone who is incredibly lonely and self depreciating despite his cockiness and attitude. He has no positive bonds to speak of save for his connection with Sae. To have him see a team that works together and cares for each other, how do you think he would feel? Out of place? Inferior in some way? Angry about how hes been alone for so long in this single minded quest for revenge? Wouldnt that be a point of struggle between the two of them? I think what makes shuake good for me is knowing that Akechi needs alot of time to heal, and the thieves would want to help with that process. They do it bc they care, bc Akira cares, and bc they trust Akiras opinion (and he trusts theirs in return); if Akira feels like Akechi is someone who can be trusted Now after everything thats happened, then the thieves would do their best to help. And how would Akechi feel about that? Angry about the show of pity? That even now, he has no real say in what happens to him? Or begrudgingly grateful that they are cordial with him? Because they do care, he KNOWS they care, they care TOO MUCH actually; but the one thing he values over brawn and wits is honesty- fighting for what you believe in without having to use soft words to justify it.
80 notes
·
View notes
these valentines day cards for scarabia got me blushing, giggling, and kicking my feet fr
(also featuring me unnecessarily analyzing them) (i really hope the cards are in the right order i think they are or else everything that i say here will look incredibly silly)
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
kalim al-asim:
To my dear friend—
Thanks for the present! What colorful and sparkly sweets. They look delicious!
I just had an idea! How about we eat them together after school? Gifts like this taste better when shared, after all.
I'll pick out a good tea to go with them. Can't wait to see you later!
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
To my dear friend—
Thanks for the gift! It's flattering to know you picked this out for me! I'll treat you to anything you like in return—food, live entertainment, an item you've been pining after... You just say the word.
...On second thought, no. I'll come up with something myself!
Just like you came up with this gift to give me.
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Hey love,
Thank you for that wonderful gift! Getting something like this from you just put a smile on my face!
Let me throw you a feast to show my gratitude!
After that, I'll take you on a magic carpet ride, it'll be really fun!
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
SO LET ME TALK ABOUT THE PROGRESSION BETWEEN THE CARDS???
on kalim's first card, it's really cute but it also feels just like his usual demeanor where he treats everyone as a friend.
but on to the second card, it looks like he's definitely feeling more strongly enough about you to think "hey let me get you something too!! let me be your genie of the lamp!" at least right before realizing it would be more meaningful to give you a surprise gift as well like you did.
his "dear friend" on the second card is more real this time.
BUT OMG THE WHIPLASH TO THE THIRD CARD
"HEY LOVE" ???? KALIM WHAT
WHEN I TELL YOU MY HEART JUST WENT HFDSNSFHDJFDK
PLSS HE CANT DO THIS TO ME 💀💀💀
THE "MY DEAR FRIEND" -> "HEY LOVE" PROGRESSION
YOUR HONOR HE IS IN LOVE(???)
NO IT’S PROBABLY JUST A REALLY AFFECTIONATE TERM OF ENDEARMENT CONSIDERING THAT IT’S KALIM
(*denial* *denial* *denial*)
the closest ones (that are available) to doing something similar is jade who goes from "my good friend" -> "my dearest" and vil who goes from "dearest friend" to "my dear"
anyways, the third card is kalim finally wanting to go ALL OUT as a way to show you how he feels about you and how thankful he is. he's literally all about having fun with the person he cares about. making every moment memorable.
kalim's love language is also very much extravagant gifts since he's raised in a wealthy family where everything has been handed to him. that's probably how he got the mindset that gifts are the way to show love and affection because that's how his family did it for him. so the bigger the gift the better he can show you how he feels.
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
jamil viper:
Hello—
I was surprised to see you gifted me sweets.
At first I wondered if you were hinting for me to make you something similar... But when I pulled the gift out of the bag, I saw all the details you put into it, right down to the ribbon. It's clear this was a heartfelt gesture.
I'll treasure these treats as I eat them. Thank you.
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Hello—
I'll admit it. I'm beyond surprised.
I suppose a heartfelt "thank you" is in order.
In fact, why don't we meet at the school store after class tomorrow?
Hopefully I'll be able to find you something to return the favor.
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Dear friend,
Thank you for the gift. To think I would receive something from you... Well, it caught me off guard. I'd like to give you something in return.
Hmm... What should it be? What might you like?
Why don't you come down to Scarabia sometime and we'll discuss over a cup of tea.
━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
jamillll;;;
on the first card, he was suspicious of receiving a gift. at first he's like "are you just giving me something so i could give you something as well?" until he realized "oh this is legit" and that you’re not expecting anything back. and then he just enjoys it which is hella cute.
on the second card (unlike the last one) he's now like "let me get you something in return because i really appreciate the gesture". here i think he's still genuinely confused that you still decided to give him a gift. but at this point it feels like he's only offering to get you something in return because he feels like he has to just to show his gratitude. kinda like a fair transaction.
it seems that jamil is still like "why me". like, you cared enough to see and acknowledge him to even consider getting him a gift. which i believe is something he's not used to. so he just wants to "return the favor" by offering you to go find something you like :)
and the third card;;;
"DEAR FRIEND" GOT. MEEE.
YOUR HONOR I LOVE HIMMMMM
i know for other people "friend" is not on the same level as the romantic "love" but i personally feel as strong with platonic relationships as with romantic ones (if not more) and this hit me HARD.
for the third one he's finally comfortable enough to consider you a friend. but he still sounds flabbergasted that you still even thought of him (and **you** specifically) (like he didn't imagine that you'd even give him a gift).
and now this is less of a transaction but more of like he *wants* to make sure that he gets you something that you'd really like. it's not simply just "hey let's go to the school store and see what's available as a thanks", this time it's "hey i really appreciate that you got me something so let's discuss what i can get you as well. i'll be your genie of the lamp, anything is possible (within reason)"
(original twitter thread with these cards)
100 notes
·
View notes