paprykass

back in 2020 when i first finished TPN Yuugo was my favorite... but this reread is giving me lucas brainworms. (ignore how his arm is on the wrong side in the first photo) (and also I COMPLETELY FORGOT HIS SCAR)( pretends its an AU where theyre all happy and goldy pond never happened)

anyways... I have evil thoughts in my head about these two. (im not sure if I should share it here because it might be OOC, but ill do it anyways)

Lucas has liked yuugo ever since they were on the farm. I think thats obvious.. but my hc for yuugo depends on how im feeling

option 1: I don't think yuugo grows out of his feelings for dina anytime between the farm and goldy pond. However, he DOES start to develop feelings for lucas sometime after the escape (hes constantly switching between Dina and Lucas) (greedy as hell)

option 2: Yuugo's feelings develop after their reunion, but theres a very fine line between genuine affection and pure desperation after 13 years of loneliness. their relationship is a STRUGGLE. Somedays yuugo gets affectionate with lucas, and the next he'll ignore him completely. He still sees lucas as a friend ofc, but having lucas in front of him alive and breathing brings back too many memories and regrets. He's scared to get close again because of how unpredictable tomorrow can be, but for the same reason, he's scared of wasting the time they have. Yuugo likes having lucas close, and at the same time, he's scared that what they have isn't right for either of them. Yuugo isn't even sure if these feelings for lucas are actually there. He feels that he's taking advantage of what lucas is willing to give to him, while yuugo can't give anything in return if he's clinging onto anything he can take.

(lucas has his own problems too but im not gonna talk about him right now)

Back then, James Ratri was the thirty-fifth leader of the clan. Young for the title, terrifyingly brilliant, raised under expectations heavy enough to crush most people long before adulthood. Peter himself described him as kind, refined, handsome, sincere, almost impossibly noble.

And somehow, beneath all that responsibility, James was still warm.

You met him long before either of you understood what would eventually happen between you. At first he was simply Mike’s nephew. The future head of the clan. Someone untouchable.

But James never treated you like an outsider trying to survive among people born into power. He never spoke down to you. Never reduced you to Mike’s wife. In a family where every interaction felt measured and political, James spoke to you naturally.

That was what ruined the two of you.

Long clan gatherings would end and somehow the two of you always ended up alone. At first it was accidental. Quiet conversations after dinner. Passing remarks in hallways. Brief moments beside open windows while rain hit the gardens outside the estate.

Then those moments became intentional.

A second chance at freedom.

That is why their relationship in this kind of story becomes so devastating once James discovers the truth behind the Promise.

Because canonically, James was raised believing the Ratri clan protected peace between humans and demons through noble sacrifice. Then he discovered Julius Ratri’s hidden confession and realized the entire foundation of that peace had been built on betrayal. Innocent humans, including the descendants of Julius’s own allies, had been abandoned to become cattle for demons.

That revelation destroyed him. Not immediately but quietly.

James began carrying guilt like a second skin. Meetings became longer. His absences more frequent. He started building shelters, coded systems, and escape routes under the name of William Minerva while pretending to continue leading the clan normally.

And through all of it, he kept coming back to you.

Because you were the only thing in his life that still felt human, but James also understood something you hated him for in the end.

Mike’s neutrality protected you because the old man never fully sided with Peter or James.

He remained in the middle where survival was easiest. That neutrality became armor around you and the children. Around your children. Around the life attached to the Ratri name.

James lost that protection the moment he betrayed the clan. And James understood Peter better than anyone else ever could.

That is another tragedy of canon. James never truly hated his younger brother. Even while Peter hunted him, James understood why he did it. Peter loved the clan the same way James once had. The difference was that Peter chose lineage loyalty over morality, while James could no longer survive carrying both.

So when the time finally came, James refused to take you with him.

Not because he did not love you enough.

Because he loved you too much.

Taking you would have destroyed your safety completely. Peter would have hunted you as leverage. The clan would have erased you. Your children with Mike would have inherited the consequences of your disappearance forever.

You hated James for leaving... And worse, you hated him because he was right.

You were only truly safe as Mike Ratri’s wife.

James made sure you knew one thing before he disappeared from your life completely.

Loving you was the one thing he never regretted.

He told you that if there had been another world, another life untouched by the Promise, by the clan, by duty, he would already be somewhere beside you. Somewhere quiet and unnamed. Somewhere neither of you had to hide.

But this world did not allow men like James Ratri to choose happiness.

So he asked you to survive instead.

To stay where you were. To hate him if necessary. To forget him if possible.

And James left knowing the worst part was never Peter hunting him across the shadows of the clan. The worst part was leaving behind the only place he had ever truly been safe.

Your arms, your laughter, your voice whispering his name in quiet rooms no one else knew existed.

So you stayed as Mike Ratri’s wife.

As the elegant young woman seated beside one of the most important men in the family. Safe. Untouched and alive.