what makes you like kandrew so much?? what drawns you to them??
(not trying to sound rude or condescending or anything im just curious lol)
I really adore characters that bite and snarl at each other for the purpose of enrichment in their respective enclosures.
On a more serious note lol—other than the fact that I have A Type when it comes to pairings (davekat, edxizzy, amberprice, etc), I enjoy characters that have somewhat of an unhealthy codependency on one another. Which is the extremely general way of putting it. I like characters that are kind of doomed to the narrative to never really be sated by what the world has to offer, but their person makes up for that (not that they always recognize it as such or that it's entirely positive or sometimes even completely mutual). And I don't mean doomed in a "never amount to anything" way, but in that bittersweet tone where both of these characters, wherever they fall into each other on the timeline, are at a place where their lows sync up, and that harmonizing rattles something to the perceived tune of "we're the best we're ever going to get". Again, that's all really general for the vibes of why I was drawn to them. There's a bit more nuance for them (and the other pairings ofc).
I like that they have a deal that encompasses both of them trying to push the other into being a better version of themselves but they're both too stubborn/scared to move first because realised potential means you have to recognise it too. Kevin can't expect Andrew to try his best when he himself is not, and Andrew can't expect Kevin to show him his worth* if he doesn't bother to try in the first place. (Though I know their deal was labelled more as moriyama protection for Kevin, I think that kind of encompassed the idea that Andrew would be a crutch till Kevin could stand on his own if that makes sense)
Not to quote the ec but it's one of like 3 parts I would willingly print and eat:
Andrew is the kind of character I adore because he says this and he really genuinely means it. Keeping what little he has left of himself is a last ditch self preservation tactic because he can't get hurt if he has no hopes/expectations/aspirations. No one can let him down if he doesn't let them. But he's so wonderfully flawed in his own ruleset because he keeps doing just that in the hopes that maybe someone will be different this time . Like maybe this time someone will be right when they say he's worth it** like maybe Kevin is right and he can make Andrew see what he's been refusing himself.
I also love that their deal extends far past the deal itself. In the most basic of terms, it was: 'you go, I'll go.' Andrew didn't have to trust Kevin beyond that. But he gave Kevin his meds and trusted him not to abuse that. Kevin had even already promised to help him figure out a way to wean off them before if they could earlier (and I genuinely think his fear of Andrew getting off his meds early was both a kneejerk 'the game/my safety' reaction because Kevin has a lot riding on this semester too, but also because he knows he made his own promise to Andrew and he thought Andrew coming off his meds early might have been an obstacle even Kevin's stubbornness couldn't hurdle when it came to helping Andrew on his feet after). Likewise I have to imagine that very few people put their trust in Kevin with much of anything outside of Exy given his temperament and wallflower disinterest in team building extra curriculars. So for Andrew to willingly give Kevin his meds to hold onto that he's gotten violent over before probably created a very morbid sense of.. pride, I guess? Like I trust you to hold onto the thing that ruins me is so... clenches fist
There's also this rough handed care that comes with all of that. They're unforgivably honest with each other at the best of times and unnecessarily biting at wounds just to get a genuine reaction at the worst. But then they also have these quiet side/off screen moments that are unyielding in tenderness? Andrew inspecting Kevin's hand for injuries. Kevin covering for Andrew when he's sick on court. Andrew telling Kevin to trust him during a panic attack and that he'll take care of it. Kevin turning his entire attention away from the Raven's to pull Andrew up to his feet. Them smiling at each other first genuinely?? Being idiots on the court with playful mocking shoves that don't get heated?? Like you give me these two characters who make it seem as if their hearts will genuinely stop beating if they stop nipping at each other, and then show me that they're actually wrapped up in one another so tightly that they're rarely seen apart? And are burdened (affectionate) with the task of keeping the other from doing the very thing that drowns themselves?? Okay
Also a looooot of this is from my perspective on Andrew's perspective on Kevin since we're given a lot more to work with, but I genuinely think Andrew was the first to push back at Kevin and make him prove things to Andrew and himself. Kevin had maybe a couple people at most before he fled to the foxes. Like he had nothing other than his name and reputation, good and bad, when he showed up at wymack's door. I can't help but imagine some part of Andrew saw this as amusing but also rather tiresome when it came to seeing Kevin constantly shut away in hiding. He was so loud before, where is all that roar now? When Kevin left Jean, he really left his only friend behind (sorry Thea fans I know she's there I know). So here you have Andrew, offering a deal that becomes this codependency because being out of the nest alone most certainly took its toll for a while, and it sounds too good to be true but most things are. So Kevin snatches it up and then there's the trust in the meds and the constant presence (in the sense of comforting consistency in spite of any disagreements (but abandonment issues kandrew is a whole other post now innit)) and the care and it all looks a lot like what someone might call a friend. And I mean they could both say they're not friends till their dying day but they're the only ones they're still trying to fool.
I just like that they gnaw on the scraps that they snag off one another, these leftover cuts from failed attempts at love and kindness, and act as if they didn't hand the pieces to each other themselves in the bed they share.
—
*Andrew is worth more than his ability to play Exy obviously, but I'm working from the angle that these boys have a very limited vocabulary in how to express that given their upbringings lol ie: my absolute Favourite part of the ec:
Like again I have my hangups with some of the ec but this provides soooo much more context to their beef pre-canon and the history behind Andrew's failed recruitment. Not to mention Aaron internally calls out Andrew for blatantly lying to Kevin when he tells him he doesn't care. (I think Andrew probably holds a certain disdain for Kevin struggling to verbalize how he measures worth and how that might differentiate off the court, because that line between wanting to be told you're worth putting in the effort for versus being told it's because of your latent potential is most likely rather precarious. Shipping goggles on: I imagine wanting to get someone's attention whose love language was built up around Exy is a tad difficult even if Andrew does in fact hear what Kevin's trying to say. I also don't think Kevin's malicious in his inability to truly express that Andrew really could have everything and it's infuriating to watch Andrew self destruct.)
**And for me, this, coupled with the above conversation with Renee, really puts into perspective how agitated Andrew is with Kevin for squandering his potential. He thinks Kevin has zero self preservation skills when it comes to maybe not putting all his balls in the exy basket, but that's also why he's so drawn to him because he has this insatiable drive to live for this one thing? And yet he's not even giving it his all like he's asking of Andrew despite that? It'd be easy to dismiss Kevin's overzealous love of the game as gross infatuation that's bled into Andrew's life, but if he smothers Kevin's drive and doesn't encourage him to be exactly as he sees Kevin, this person who really can achieve these things, what is there for him? He wants Kevin to thrive, but Andrew also wants Kevin to be right and that he can thrive too.
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Guess what everyone, I'm back! Time to talk about post-canon Cora and her kids again. Whether that be her biological kids or the ones she's babysitting.
Last time I talked about the context (aka where she'd be raising those kids), how the Straw Hats would turn her pregnancy into a game show, and Zoro and Sanji's different reactions to the possibility of being a father. This time, I'll be touching on how the Sanji/Cora/Zoro family would actually work because there's a whole lot of factors feeding into that, and Cora being a babysitter. Prepare for more fluff!
First of all, I mentioned at the end of the last part that there's no way that Cora would have just one kid. There's two reasons for that: First of all, if I remember correctly, multiples have a higher chance of their kids being multiples themselves, and one of her boyfriends just so happens to be a multiple. Second of all, I just see Cora as someone who would have a lot of kids. She loves kids and she would love being a mother. If none of her pregnancies go horribly wrong (which they don't - she's in good hands), she's definitely having a lot of kids. Maybe four? I dunno. Depends on how many of her pregnancies turn out to be multiples. But I could see her having three or maybe four pregnancies.
Anyways, did I call Zoro and Sanji her boyfriends just now? I should've called them her husbands, because they are getting married. I honestly don't know who would propose first but I could totally see both Zoro and Sanji proposing at the same time and then bickering about it. She has two hands for two rings, so why not use them? Cora obviously keeps her family name, but Sanji becomes Roronoa Sanji. He claims it's for practical reasons, but he's actually so soft about getting to show off his relationship like that, and he's the worst offender when it comes to slipping "my (shitty) husband" or "my (lovely) wife" into almost every conversation.
So, finally, we get to talk about the kids and the family structure. The whole deal of the Akaito Clan is that you only get to carry the Akaito name if you're a tailor, so only Cora's kids that actually become tailors carry the Akaito name. So, if Cora and Sanji have a daughter named Sora and she becomes a tailor, she'll be called Akaito Sora. If she doesn't, she'll stay Roronoa Sora. Another important thing about the Akaito Clan is that they have the sewing needle pierced through their left ear - and this continues with Cora's kids! BUT because jewelry is generally so important to Cora as a person and is a huge symbolic thing for her relationship with Zoro and Sanji, this also carries over to their kids. So, the swordfighters of the family get a dangly earring on the left side and the ones who use Sanji's kick-based fighting style get an anklet on the right. Any other body part is free reign and the whole family uses that pretty liberally. Let me tell you, the Akaito-Roronoas love their jewelry. Also, this absolutely applies to any of the kids she babysits.
Speaking of kids she babysits, Reina/Pandora Island is basically just Straw Hat daycare/summer camp. I'm very convinced that most of the Straw Hats would not settle down, and they probably either can't or just don't want to take their kids with them. So, they leave them with the only crewmate that actually has settled down - and that's Cora! Also, she probably talks them into doing just that because she cares a lot for the safety of those kids (especially since they'll inevitably become just as reckless as their parents) and she loves taking care of kids. And just like that, the Akaito-Roronoas and the other Straw Hat kids basically grow up as one family on the island of their auntie Cora and become just as close as the Straw Hats are amongst each other.
And while they're there, they get to learn how to cook, how to swordfight with various swords like a rapier, a katana, a freaking longsword (thanks @supermarine-silvally for the idea, I'll touch on it later) etc, how to fight using only their legs, how to sew, crochet, knit... There's so much they can do! Plus, the island is full of fun plants and animals, and I'm willing to bet one of the Straw Hats or their associates (possibly a certain archaeologist) may have opened up a sort of school too. Straw Hat associates get to come to the island too, of course, and the babysitting service is open to them too. Bringing orphans or abandoned kids that you just happened upon on your travels to the island is also allowed. That place is a child's paradise as long as Cora and the Straw Hats have the say there.
They're giving out last names like candy too. "Oh you wanna learn how to sew? You're an Akaito now." "Hey, you're really interested in history? Oh boy do I have a name for you. You prefer medicine? Well guess what I got!" "You like swordfighting? Would you like to share a name with the World's Greatest Swordsman?" "Don't have a last name? Don't like your last name? How would you like to have the name of the King of the Pirates?" Sometimes they invent last names too, sort of like how the Marines give out epithets but they're good traits and are a sign of respect and love.
Currently drawing a blank on anything more to touch on (if you have any questions or thoughts please let me know!) and I don't have any set ideas for any kids right now, so... time to talk about something that @supermarine-silvally and I talked about, and that's the topic of what happens to Mihawk after Zoro beats him:
I say he moves in on Reina/Pandora Island! Well... sort of. He does live there, apparently, but he's more of an island cryptid. Sometimes he's just chilling on the island, sometimes he's giving swordfighting lessons, sometimes he tends to one of the gardens, and sometimes he just straight up disappears for a while because his social battery needs to recharge. The kids love him. They go "Look! That's my grandpa Mihawk!" He's also one of the island's main defense mechanisms. Should anyone dare try to attack the island, Mihawk just appears on his little coffin canoe and slices their entire fleet in half. It's not like Zoro couldn't do that, but he's busy travelling around. Sanji could also absolutely destroy those ships and they wouldn't even see him coming or leaving, but he's busy with his restaurant. Cora could do it, but she prefers taking care of the kids and it's a lot easier for Mihawk to do. Also, he needs enrichment every once in a while because even if he is retired, I can't imagine him as someone who could just quit being a swordsman. He also gets the added bonus of tailor-made clothes from Cora herself because we all know he's a fancy one.
That's it! Hope you enjoyed.
Also, pssst, there's a Cora drawing incoming...
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Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!
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