#kaidesmond

Everything begins in around October of 2024. This is about 2 months after Kai developed a small crush on Damon Maitsu and decided to ask him out. If you want a timeline, Kai and Damon were oficially boyfriends from mid-AUGUST to late-NOVEMBER of 2024.

so what the hell happened😭

Ive talked about this before, and while i have been a Damon/Kaimon hater thats NOT what I want to come off as right now. The general point is that:

When he started attending the academy (as we see in the game) Kai was a veryyyy lonely person. In the AU, during late 2024 Kai was still privately recovering from a vape addiction and had very few people to rely on, given that his "only friends" were his online fans.

Similarly, (again, and as we see in the game) when Damon starts attending the academy he is STILL on this "The UTP is stupid and has terribly low standards" bit, and especially when meeting people with a talent who's not only recently aquired but non-academic like Kai, he very much percieved himself as superior than him. Still, it would be a lie to say that (because of this mentality) Damon had a huge lack of connection, especially with people his age, during this time.

Both of their lonely and Impulsive states lead to the fact that, as soon as Kai thinks "he's kinda cute" about Damon, he asks him out, and Damon, out of a wierd curiousity (given that it was the first time he'd been in any sort of romantic relationship) says yes more as an experiment than a willingness to commit (the reason they both initiated the relationship was not good and it is eventually their demise).

And for the first month or so, I think they actually liked each other?? As in, they both enjoyed each other's company and found comfort in each other. However as time goes on, it becomes clear that they're goals and wants within the relationships are very different and they begin to clash and argue with each other.

I wrote this about them both a while ago I think its the best explanation i have for why it didnt work:

"[Kai and Damon] ended up just fighting and hurting each other, which is all due to them having very personal issues, [such as] Damon's lack of empathy or Kai's issues with placing/respecting boundaries. They are both so hypocritical but also so deeply emotional they dont REALIZE IT. They are self absorbed. Kai has no self esteem. Damon is defensive and paranoid. Kai is traumatized. [And] being together only made [those issues] worse. "

But yes, because they refuse to communicate and take accountabilty when they argue with each other, a very simple and rather superficial relationship slowly turns into Kai blaming Damon for being a "bad boyfriend" (AKA not giving his every bit of attention to him) and Damon blaming Kai for being overbaring (AKA Kai wanting every bit of his attention) in their relationship.

I think where this entire bit needs a bit more nuance is when we talk about why Kai ended up feeling so affected by Damon enough to be as miserable as he eventually gets. Damon is a very no-nonsense kinda person, and when he began feeling overwhelmed by Kai's touchiness (both physically and in the actual definiton of the word) his response was to purposefully say hurtful things or behave coldly towards Kai so that he would leave him alone.

So, what is really Damon not knowing how to comunicate that he felt the relationship was going too fast and he was uncomfortable , becomes Kai blaming himself and thinking that everything Damon says about him being too much or a bad person is true (lets not forget that Kai being as lonely as he was, ends up basing a lot of his world around the 1 guy who agreed to date him, and for Damon going from being all by himself with no friends to having a very affectionate boyfriend was too much, too quickly).

This is another thing I wrote before that I think is important to say about the ending of their relationship:

" I do think Damon should be held accountable for any sort of verbally abusive behavior of his in this scenario, but I also feel he would make efforts to change afterwards, and genuinely apologize. [...] Kai and Damon apologizing to each other for the piece of shit relationship they had is my favorite part about Kaimon. I also think Kai would begin to take relationships more seriously and less selfishly after being with Damon... "

It is THIS SPLIT that Desmond is (inderectly) ivolved in (THIS SOUNDS BAD PLEASE HEAR ME OUT).

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DAIMOND AS FRIENDS:

At some point in the middle of this relationship, Desmond is chilling in one of the hallways of the academy, and sees Kai walking past crying, and in a whim, a "wtf" moment, he asks him if he's okay. And for really the first time since Kaimon start dating, Kai finally vents about everything he's been overthinking up to this point. Feeling rather concerned, Desmond allows him to do so.

To make a long story short, Desmond wasn't really close with either of them, and because of this he was able to be a rather good listener in a point where Kai Needed to talk about it with someone or go insane.

I will mention that at this point, Kai was already friends with Diana. Kai and Diana in this AU are best friends, they're very close. But during this time, Kai didnt feel like he could tell Diana about his relationship issues with Damon because she was a very "please everyone love everyone" kind of person that if Kai said anything negative about Damon she would probably just dismiss it or urge him to "see the good in things" which for Kai who was actively being verbally abused by Damon was probably not the best advice.

And that's how they really become close for the first time! I think the gap of emotional maturity between them was pretty huge, so Desmond was generally just a voice of reason for Kai when he didn't know what to believe.

Apart from this, Desmond and Kai also slowly find a friend in each other, and begin hanging out during class, talking about their talents and likes and stuff. This is all obvioulsy helpful when helping Kai get distracted from the mess going on with Damon. The little friend group that forms during this era of Kai and Diana (Besties) uniting with Desmond and Eloise (Besties too), ends up remaining very close for a long time.

STILL, as the months go by, as much as they are all great friends to Kai, obvioulsy everything is still getting to him and overwhelming him (same can be said for damon honestly)

Desmond eventually decides to talk to Damon (given that whenever he asked Kai "and have you talked to Damon about this?" the answer was no). Desmond and Ulysses actually end up bonding a bit over the fact that, instead of talking to each other, Kai and Damon would respectively to them instead. And the thing is: Despite Desmond originally hearing the story from Kai's side, once he talks to Damon, he begins to realize that they are both to be blamed for a lot of the things that happen.

So, before they finish their first semester of the academy in late november 2024, and after a long hard conversation with Kai (probably more than one time discussing the idea), Desmond and Kai come to the conclusion that its probably for the best for them to break up (I think its kinda funny that during this same conversion or a bit after Ulysses helped Damon come to the same concllusion).

It's during this time period that Desmond develops much stronger feelings for Kai, NOT in a romantic sense, but Kai going through so much shit in front of his eyes and seeing him go through this process inevitably makes Desmond care a lot for Kai and his wellbeing. Because, as they talk to each other, he realizes that Kai is an actually charming and caring person, maybe even finds him funny, and Desmond almost finds it frustating that he's with someone who isnt there to really appreciate him, as well as the mere fact that Kai initiated a relationship that wasn't good for him.

So yes, Damon and Kai finally have an actual good conversation and, admitting that they were both not in the right mindspace to be in a relationship, they break up in somewhat-good terms. After this, I like to imagine they both went home in their vacation and got themselves therapist (Tbh Kai probably already had one to help him with his addiction and his adhd but not Damon, oh Damon😭).

(Also all of this DOES in fact mean that during the Labubu Christmas comic Kai and Damon were boyfriends, I think it really helps show that they werent always fighting or not talking to each other, but it was a messy on-and-off kinda thing going on behind closed doors that eventually stressed them both out).

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DAIMOND IN THE ONE-SIDED CRUSH ERA 😭:

Ok, so this next part, the beginning of their Romantic relationship, takes place during their SECOND semester in EGA, from JANUARY to APRIL of 2025.

Context:

During winter vacation, Kai took the time to heal and as part of this, he started spending more time with friends. This includes many sleepovers with Diana, as well as going out with friends like Eloise and Desmond, obviouly including Desmond's birthday, etc.

During this time, Desmond obviously enjoys spending non-academy time with his friends and with Kai. He also begins to think about him more often and miss when they stop seeing each other during vacation. Though he realizes this might be a crush, he very well tells himself that its a ridiculous idea.

Upon returning to the academy in mid-January, seeing Kai in person every day again, Desmond very much realized that hes fallen for Kai.

In another side, Kai doesn't feel romantically towards Desmond, but considers him a trusty friend.

I like the idea that Desmond went from being a relatively cool guy around everyone to very obviously becoming a blushing restless mess ONLY when he talks to Kai, and EVERYONE can tell that he obviosly has a crush, EXCEPT Kai.

To be honest, I could argue is just his brain blocking out any sort of idea of a romantic relationship to prevent him from going into another messy relationship like the one he had with Damon months ago.

⬆️ This is precisely what TOSHIKO argues to Desmond when he inevitably consults her about what he should do regarding his crush on Kai. She tells Desmond that Kai could very easliy not want/not feel ready for another relationship yet. Desmond knows this, and while he cant avoid feeling love for Kai, he doesn't advance on him because of this reason.

It is only when Kai starts himself subconciously liking Desmond, and complaining "ughh i wish i had a boyfriend" while scrolling on tik tok during valentines day- that Desmond side-eyes Toshiko and Toshiko is just staring at him like "YOOOO" 👁️👁️.

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DAIMOND: !!!TOGETHER!!!

I think internally Kai beginning to like Desmond was much more catastrophic, as in, when he realized that he found Desmond attractive not just physically or from afar (ref to damon and kai's anwers here), but as a whole person in his life he was like NOOOOO (again mostñy afraid that he would mess up another relationship in the way things happened with Damon).

Still, as the months pass, eventually Desmond makes the decision to -- at the very least -- try to express his affection towards Kai in a way where he could percieve it as platonic, and if they somehow manage to admit romantic feelings for each other well thats EVEN BETTER (lmao as if THAT would ever happen-COUGH). So he does what any normal rich person would do for Kai Monteago, he buys him a ring :D (ITS THIS ONE I just realized its AI slop FUCK I'm gonna have to draw the ring myself one of this days actually).

THROUGH A VERY AWKWARD and also deeply touching interaction, Desmond does a whole little "I really care about you and think you're freaking wonderful and deserve the best and I really love you but i cant say it like that so heres a really pretty ring that represents the butterly allegory of how beautiful people dont always see how beautiful they are and also youre the most beautiful person alive " speech.

And Kai, in as much shock as he is, unsure of wether this could even be somehow platonic is just like "omgggg thankssss... oh... my god.,...." and they just stand there staring at each other knowing damn well how much they like each other. Until eventually Kai decides to thank him by asking for a hug and then for a kiss and they have their first kiss OUGH.

GAHHH IM SUCH A SUCKER FOR CONFESSIONS MANN.

And after they start dating at that point EVERYBODY knew that Desmond was gonna confess so they get to class the next day and theyre being stared at like "so did it work" and Kai is mega freaked out by it.

They start dating between March-April of 2025 :)

I want to add, that even in their first semster, because many of their conversations had to do with past relationships, they both had already been quite open with each other about being with toxic or abusive partners before the academy era. They had trusted each other for a long time. I always imagine them laying next to each other on the floor or in their beds and just talking to each other. Especially when they oficially become a couple, I think this would provide them with a way to communicate without judging each other and really figure out their relationship from the beginning.

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I think this post is long enough as is. Maybe one day ill make little drawings or a much shorter post with a list of facts about them. Cause I could keep going with this but i- probably shouldn't.