An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Garyuu Kirihito | Kristoph Gavin/Garyuu Kyouya | Klavier Gavin Characters: Garyuu Kirihito | Kristoph Gavin, Garyuu Kyouya | Klavier Gavin Additional Tags: Brother/Brother Incest, Dubious Consent, Kristoph Gavin is His Own Warning, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Dissociation, Klavier Gavin is Not Okay, Possessive Sex, Anal Sex, Obsessive Behavior, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Masturbation Interruptus, except not really, Sibling Incest, Begging Summary:
“Kristoph?” Klavier approached the door cautiously, afraid of the sounds happening inside. “Are you alright? I’m coming i—” He dropped his bag in shock. “Oh my god.”
Kristoph just can’t get Klavier out of his head. His younger brother consumes his every waking thought, and now, his deepest, darkest desires. He wants to show him his love in the best way he knows how, and has hatched the perfect plan to do so. Though Kristoph had approached him for sex in the past, never before has he proposed something so… intimate. ♫
I want to add a bit more context to this song as linked in the fic. You is a possessive love song where the narrator comes out to the object of affection, admitting that he can't stop thinking about them and he's been needing to talk to them about his feelings. They have a background of existing together in an unhealthy way, but this doesn't stop him from feeling desirous of the other.
The narrator begins to have lascivious fantasies about this person, listing all of the different ways he wishes he was with this person sexually (and implied to be emotionally as well). He feels most comfortable with them. He feels like they are two parts of one heart in spite of their struggles, that he feels this person is cold and driving them away, which only makes him desire them more.
The narrator then shifts to a different perspective where he shows anger, expressing coolly that he thinks his object of affection is a tease and being promiscuous with others, even calling them a liar. But despite this, the narrator admits that he doesn't actually mind this state of affairs. No matter how much they fight and the twisted games they play with each other, the narrator is okay with it because the object of affection ultimately belongs to him. He's happy with them, and no matter what, they will always turn him on.
What Does This Have to Do with The Gavins?
The resemblance between Kristoph and Klavier is uncanny. It's especially noticeable when examining Klavier's appearance in his flashback, where he has short hair and looks nothing like his brother despite their physical similarities. This means that some time after the Gramarye trial, Klavier intentionally began to style his hair after Kristoph's, even wearing it on the same side. It's shorter than Kristoph's curl, less refined. Kristoph has kept himself in perfect, prim condition for likely as long as Klavier has known him.
The way Klavier breaks down emotionally in court during Turnabout Succession, the way he loses his composure when in the presence of his brother for the first time, speaks to something seriously wrong between them. It's not just the case and his brother being accused of murder – it's that Kristoph himself makes him feel weak and small. His comments on Klavier's emotions by describing him as "upset to the point of uselessness" and "incapable of making rational judgments", crushing his spirit and his credibility in court. Kristoph takes control of him in this moment, and does this so often that Klavier himself has to comment on it when he breaks free of his spell. Klavier calls him out for "spending his entire life" looking for loopholes, only finally speaking his mind when he realizes that his brother is truly defeated.
Canonically, there is a history of gaslighting, manipulation, and emotional abuse between them. Delving beyond that, there is a terrible world of endless possibilities for what could have happened before the events of Apollo Justice. I firmly believe that there is emotional incest involved, that there is a level of enmeshment between these brothers that makes it difficult to extricate themselves from each other. Kristoph is the perpetrator of violence, but I also believe that his identity would be wrapped up in Klavier in a similar fashion that Klavier can't escape from Kristoph. It's a tangled web that has been weaved, one that has existed long before the viewer ever gets to meet them. So, what does this have to do with You?
Emotional enmeshment blurs the lines between the familial role and deeper levels of intimacy that are normally reserved for romantic partners, someone who is your equal. While this doesn't always include sexual abuse, it is disturbingly common and far from unreasonable to assume. It's also a topic I don't see enough in fanfiction, which is why I have decided to approach it through this lens. It is not implausible to me that someone like Kristoph, a convicted murderer and stalker of several victims over the course of YEARS in order to ensure their silence, would have preyed on his younger brother. You can imagine some level of contextual grooming of Klavier.
You, through the lens of the fic, is about Kristoph as a predator. Seeing his brother as an extension of himself, as an object of desire, as someone who is not a victim but as someone playing hard to get and being cruel by being so "cold" in the face of their connection. Any way that Klavier may try to express himself, to exist as an individual outside of Kristoph's sphere of influence, would be seen as an affront. I'm sure Kristoph would be very jealous of any romantic paramours that Klavier would have picked up as a rockstar, jealous of the time he spends away on tour and away from his career as a prosecutor, away from him. If, as in this scenario, Kristoph had the intent to be a sexual predator, this song would perfectly capture the kind of inner world inside of him. That Klavier is his, only his, and that his attempts to escape are unfair to their "love" as brothers.
Deep down, Kristoph is a pathetic, craven man. He is a paranoid control freak, a chronic cheat who plays dirty in order to win at any cost. He is unable to trust most people, so who is he most likely to rely on? Family. As an abuser, he would both put Klavier on a pedestal and view him as an outlet, feeling comfortable to use him in any and all ways he sees fit. Klavier won't leave him – Klavier can't leave him. They belong together, no matter what. Kristoph would have to be an incredibly lonely person to act the way he does, to be so motivated by hate and anger and greed. There is likely no one else in the entire world who could ever see him and love him the way he is. And, despite the way he treats his brother? Until he is proven to be guilty of murder, Klavier defends his honor to the end.
This is a story about obsession, about a sick and twisted form of love from someone who tries to make their family their everything. This is...
Our Hearts in Shards.
