#gilserge

"if i could only take all your pain away." they say knowing damn well they're the cause of each other's pain.

used this painting as a reference.

usually with dynamics like these i feel there's always charaA (who was assaulted) and charaB (who was not) so there's always that slight disconnect between the two characters - even when there's love and compassion for the victim- and there's always that lingering fear of "what will the other person think?" if charaA talks about said abuse, making it pretty much into a trope (? of sorts both in canon and fan made material. (which isn't wrong, this is a very common dynamic IRL and even i've written similar situations before. just because it's common it doesn't mean that it's bad!)

there ARE characters that have gone through similar trauma (see: danganronpa survivors and the killing game for example) but i feel like a dynamic where both characters have gone through some kind of assault is so rare? i could be wrong, so lmk if that's the case.

anyhow. where most characters lack that mutual understanding in regards to assault, gilserge has that understanding even before serge gets assaulted, but once it happens and he's forced to tell gilbert about this (because their abuser is a mutual acquaintance) there's immediately understanding between the two. obviously gilbert is horrified and frantic at first, as any 14 year old would be to hear that their abuser (his uncle, at this point in the story!) went on to abuse someone else.

but then, when they return to school, gilbert doesn't make it into a big deal, he doesn't tell anyone nor does he try to pry information out of serge or take advantage of him. he doesn't even point out how his nightmares have been waking him up the entire week until a particularly bad one where serge brings it up like "did i wake you up?" and gilbert is like "yeah, you've been waking me up the whole week. you good?" and he tries to reach out, probably to hug him? and immediately retreats when serge retreats, understanding without words that touch has officially become something bad for serge and that it may take him a while to get comfortable with it.

then, i think a few pages later, serge points out how gilbert "understands that kindness won't make it all go away".

The happy ending they deserved Yet historians will say they were just very good friends ;)

rare moments of gilbert being genuinely happy and smiling