in terms of manousosās and koumbaās dynamic in ur yaoibus fic, what draws them together despite their differences (in how they view the Others)? Iām planning to write something soon and Iād like to include some of that dynamic in it!
YESSS thanks for the question and I so canāt wait to read more fics with Manny and Koumba!
(also pspspspsps yaoibus chapter 3 is already out, I recommend reading it before this as it clears up a lot about the dynamic)
ok so for Manousos, Koumba is, at least on a surface level, the quintessential good person. heās polite, heās kind, heās generous, heās funny, heās good in a way that rings true, whereas the goodness of the Others rings hollow. so Koumba represents that return to normalcy Manny has now dedicated his entire life to.
plus, if he manages to get Koumba on his side with Carol, that alone is a win for Team Individuality!
what draws Koumba to Manousos is something much more personal than this, at least at first. itās definitely not his āsparkling personalityā, thatās for sure. no, for Koumba, itās guilt that pushes him towards the man, because he still feels guilty about Carol getting ostracized from the group (you can even headcanon that he was told about Carolās suicide attempt by the Others). so heāll do anything to prevent the same thing happening to someone else.
you can also imagine that heās likely not very close to the other old-schoolers, even with their weekly Zooms. so knowing that Manny also has no friends in this situation, he might see the possibility of a friendship there. god knows heās still a long ways away from having that with Carol..
so even though theyāre polar opposites when it comes to the Others, there will always be something drawing them to each other, and thus theyāll always end up trying to change the other. and thatās only just the surface of the dynamic! thereās still so much we can mine here..
but also, in terms of personality dynamics, I think this lil sketch sums it up quite well
