god when is the last time I CR'd Maki. A LOT HAS HAPPENED..............?!
So basically from the beginning (whiiich was I think Maki's late night fever Dissonance post?), King has liked Maki and appreciated her frankness and was never like, turned off by any of these things that she was usually pretty open about being drawbacks of her character/personality. BUT they were always trapped in like, "distantly pleasant but not very personally invested" land, so he also he a very specific view of her back then. One that wasn't super accurate. As she kind of told him a few times!
And honestly he was pretty chill with this? Wedding game was cute and fun and he liked that she was a good sport about it, but he put no real stock in it beyond a cute wife joke every now and then, that kind of thing. He liked Maki and didn't feel like he NEEDED anything more from their relationship, even if he wouldn't have been OPPOSED to it - which is why a loooong while back he offered to lend and ear if she ever needed it, but didn't actually like. Push.
SO ANYWAY SMASHCUT TO MAKI'S LIVE. King sort of hung back initially and observed how people reacted and talked to a few people before finally hunting her down, which I think helped him cool off and gather some perspective. And even though they weren't actually confidants at that point, he felt obligated to talk to her because he felt like he was in a unique position to understand her: his team also failed to protect FIN in that game, even though he wanted to, and then FIN died and he was distressed about it, and they both have the same investment on FIN (obviously). So he was just like "many of these people have valid points but I also suspect they just don't quite get what happened here."
Which is why his approach to her was just like... HEY... YOU GOOD? And he was prepared to be rebuffed or sent away, but she responded well to that approach, and admitted right away that the Live was a bad idea that she regretted, and I think that was the turning point for King in some ways. 1. kind of shifting his perception of her in the sense that it was the first time he REALLY saw some of her character flaws and was actually bothered by them, but 2. where she seemed to open up a little and trust him. King doesn't trust THAT openly or easily, but showing him that kind of vulnerability is an easy way to fast track yourself there.
So yes, despite her Live being bad and dumb and upsetting him in general, their relationship definitely came away better for it, and then naturally King was invested by that point and wanted to help her with the fallout however he could, even if that meant rebound makeouts or whatever! The rebound makeouts were a surprise but he was willing to fall on that sword if that's what Maki needed to not meltdown at the time. He literally just did not read anything more into it than that.
(And kind of as a sidenote about the event that precipitated Maki even wanting to makeout with him to begin with - he has a pretty bad knee-jerk phobia of falling thanks to falling forever through the abyss in The Hunger Games [thank u Intensity], and he's been actively trying to exposure therapy himself into not caring about it anymore because he hates it. So far he's only done this twice: once by leaping off of Intensity's dragon to confirm his trust that Intensity would catch him no matter what, and then again when he trusted Maki to catch him when they leapt off a building. NO ONE HAS THE INFORMATION TO KNOW THIS but that was a very big show of trust for him and she paid it off and nothing bad happened! And he actually had fun! So he relieved/adrenaline junky laughed about it and I guess she found that hot. Good job Maki.)
BUT THEN, OBVIOUSLY, they went on their couch adventure and casually talked about knifeplay (even if he flustered) and then she kissed him again and informed him it was not just because she's using him as a stand-in for Intensity, which YES WAS A SURPRISE TO HIM. Which is why he was stupid about it! And the thing is, he's known Maki for a long time even if they weren't this close until recently, and he knows she's very important to Intensity, so she's always had some importance to him. It's just that now that importance is much more personal and invested, and he frankly would have turned her down if not for that. Because he doesn't really do... totally casual without a lot of personal feelings/investment, because he doesn't find it interesting/fulfilling/worthwhile otherwise. So Maki said it wasn't some official or romantic thing - which he's fine with - but he doesn't consider it utterly devoid of feelings either. Because obviously... there are some feelings there.
So NOW King is mostly just trying to do what he can for Maki when he can - and appreciating that she lets him, nowadays - and occasionally finding himself taken aback when it's reciprocated. Like after the castle game. He honestly didn't expect... anything, really, and half thought he'd just hang out at the park for a while or something, but Maki was VERY firm about bringing him home (even if it meant causing friction between her and her unit! Which he knows is a trauma button for her! Maki!!!!!!) and just went out of her way to make herself available for him for as long as he needed. And it meant a lot to him. A lot a lot. Maybe more than she realizes.
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So basically from the beginning (whiiich was I think Maki's late night fever Dissonance post?), King has liked Maki and appreciated her frankness and was never like, turned off by any of these things that she was usually pretty open about being drawbacks of her character/personality. BUT they were always trapped in like, "distantly pleasant but not very personally invested" land, so he also he a very specific view of her back then. One that wasn't super accurate. As she kind of told him a few times!
And honestly he was pretty chill with this? Wedding game was cute and fun and he liked that she was a good sport about it, but he put no real stock in it beyond a cute wife joke every now and then, that kind of thing. He liked Maki and didn't feel like he NEEDED anything more from their relationship, even if he wouldn't have been OPPOSED to it - which is why a loooong while back he offered to lend and ear if she ever needed it, but didn't actually like. Push.
SO ANYWAY SMASHCUT TO MAKI'S LIVE. King sort of hung back initially and observed how people reacted and talked to a few people before finally hunting her down, which I think helped him cool off and gather some perspective. And even though they weren't actually confidants at that point, he felt obligated to talk to her because he felt like he was in a unique position to understand her: his team also failed to protect FIN in that game, even though he wanted to, and then FIN died and he was distressed about it, and they both have the same investment on FIN (obviously). So he was just like "many of these people have valid points but I also suspect they just don't quite get what happened here."
Which is why his approach to her was just like... HEY... YOU GOOD? And he was prepared to be rebuffed or sent away, but she responded well to that approach, and admitted right away that the Live was a bad idea that she regretted, and I think that was the turning point for King in some ways. 1. kind of shifting his perception of her in the sense that it was the first time he REALLY saw some of her character flaws and was actually bothered by them, but 2. where she seemed to open up a little and trust him. King doesn't trust THAT openly or easily, but showing him that kind of vulnerability is an easy way to fast track yourself there.
So yes, despite her Live being bad and dumb and upsetting him in general, their relationship definitely came away better for it, and then naturally King was invested by that point and wanted to help her with the fallout however he could, even if that meant rebound makeouts or whatever! The rebound makeouts were a surprise but he was willing to fall on that sword if that's what Maki needed to not meltdown at the time. He literally just did not read anything more into it than that.
(And kind of as a sidenote about the event that precipitated Maki even wanting to makeout with him to begin with - he has a pretty bad knee-jerk phobia of falling thanks to falling forever through the abyss in The Hunger Games [thank u Intensity], and he's been actively trying to exposure therapy himself into not caring about it anymore because he hates it. So far he's only done this twice: once by leaping off of Intensity's dragon to confirm his trust that Intensity would catch him no matter what, and then again when he trusted Maki to catch him when they leapt off a building. NO ONE HAS THE INFORMATION TO KNOW THIS but that was a very big show of trust for him and she paid it off and nothing bad happened! And he actually had fun! So he relieved/adrenaline junky laughed about it and I guess she found that hot. Good job Maki.)
BUT THEN, OBVIOUSLY, they went on their couch adventure and casually talked about knifeplay (even if he flustered) and then she kissed him again and informed him it was not just because she's using him as a stand-in for Intensity, which YES WAS A SURPRISE TO HIM. Which is why he was stupid about it! And the thing is, he's known Maki for a long time even if they weren't this close until recently, and he knows she's very important to Intensity, so she's always had some importance to him. It's just that now that importance is much more personal and invested, and he frankly would have turned her down if not for that. Because he doesn't really do... totally casual without a lot of personal feelings/investment, because he doesn't find it interesting/fulfilling/worthwhile otherwise. So Maki said it wasn't some official or romantic thing - which he's fine with - but he doesn't consider it utterly devoid of feelings either. Because obviously... there are some feelings there.
So NOW King is mostly just trying to do what he can for Maki when he can - and appreciating that she lets him, nowadays - and occasionally finding himself taken aback when it's reciprocated. Like after the castle game. He honestly didn't expect... anything, really, and half thought he'd just hang out at the park for a while or something, but Maki was VERY firm about bringing him home (even if it meant causing friction between her and her unit! Which he knows is a trauma button for her! Maki!!!!!!) and just went out of her way to make herself available for him for as long as he needed. And it meant a lot to him. A lot a lot. Maybe more than she realizes.
So yeah.
Loev Maki, die for Maki, kill for Maki
this is long and i'm not proof reading it, sorry
REVERSE ME!!!!!!!!