#zavyn

OKAY THANKS FOR ASSKKIIINGNNGNGNGNNG

before I get into this I will say that 1. This is longer than I expected it to be so uh.... oops sorry, 2. the star wars timeline is fake and ever changing so I'm maing the timeline whatever tf I want it to be, and 3. If you see a spelling mistake, no you didn't

Now, as we approach the end of their fourth and final year at the academy there are several dynamics at play here

Kallus is on track to becoming valedictorian, he’s a stand-out student that Yularen is just itching to recruit to the basically brand new organization of the ISB, and Kallus, an ambitious young man looking to make a name for himself, agrees. He’s got everything lined up for him; he knows if he continues at this rate he’ll graduate top of his class, go straight into ISB training, and become one of the first ISB agents of the empire (the twenty first, to be specific). He took a page from Zavyns upper-level politicking playbook and it’s paying off. Turns out, if you’re just a little bit of an asshole, the empire actually rewards you for it. All he has to do is stay sharp and ahead of his peers, and everything will play out just the way he wants. 

In the meantime, Jovan has actually taken more of a backseat approach. His boyfriend is excelling (no doubt because of the guiding hand he offered him in their first years at the academy), Jovan is set to graduate with good grades-- he’s not particularly ambitious by any means, but he knows that he’ll be able to land a good position post-graduation so he’s not worrying all too much. 

Kilian, similar to Jovan, is set to graduate with good grades, and a clean disciplinary record, but unbeknownst to his instructors and peers, he is becoming disillusioned to the empire's tactics. He doesn’t really think that this whole massive galactic military thing is going to end well, but setting that aside, he’s seeing changes on an interpersonal level that isn’t really going over well with him. Particularly, he’s being thrown by how Kallus is slowly but surely conforming to the imperial monolith. Kallus started dropping his hobbies, started spending more time studying and training than spending time with his friends. Although, he’s kind of sure that it’s just the academic stress of their last semesters getting to him. The old Kallus will probably be back in no time, right? Right….???

Zavyn is seething. He’s being surpassed by Kallus of all people. The same Kallus who would get blackout drunk one night, and then show up hungover to a test the next day. The same Kallus who just kept succeeding even though he wasn’t even trying as hard as everyone else. Zavyn was already convinced that Kallus getting accepted into the academy was a fluke in the first place, so the fact this this fucking guy is about to graduate as valedictorian? Oh that pisses him off. He was convinced that Kallus’ unorthodox behavior would end up being his own downfall, he was convinced that Kallus would be unable to adapt and end up shooting himself in the foot, but no. Kallus has adapted, he’s changed his posture, his accent, his hair, he’s changed all of the things that would have set him up for failure in the empire, and now Zavyn is being forced to watch him succeed. And he fucking hates it. 

Now, post graduation, Jovan goes on to do whatever the fuck you have to do to become a lieutenant and is, for the time being, stationed on Coruscant, and he’s perfectly happy with that. 

Kallus goes straight into ISB training and he’s actually pretty damn good at this stuff, so he puts a bunch of his effort into his work there in hopes that he can quickly climb the ranks after completing his training. 

Kilian goes a similar route as Jovan. He’s nervous about what kind of a position being in a high-rank would put him. He wants an out if he needs it, and he fears that if he becomes too important then there’s going to be a target on his back. He ends up finding a position in which he’s training members of the stormtrooper corp. Kallus had asked him why the stormtrooper corp, and Kilian just had to shrug because he couldn’t tell him that being the the corp gave him the highest chance of being stationed somewhere remote, where his disappearance would go ignored.

Zavyn tries to join the ISB but is rejected. The ISB program is very selective (30ish recruits in 4 years? That’s an abysmal hiring rate, they’re only looking for the best of the best. Nothing below that will suffice), and he just didn’t make the cut. So, seething with rage, he goes on to find positions off-world so that he might climb the ranks doing field work. (Spoiler alert, that didn’t play out the way he hoped. By the end of the war he’d gotten no higher than being a senior lieutenant. Which is just fine, but compared to Kallus? He kinda dropped the ball) 

When Kallus and Kilian are sent to Onderon it’s just after Kallus officially completes his preliminary ISB training. Odeon is a troubled world, and Yularen has no doubt that having an ISB presence headed by one of his most ambitious recruits could be rather successful. It was kind of just a big coincidence that Kilian was stationed there too. 

But uh oh spaghettio, here comes Saw Gurerra and the gang, and– oh no Kilian’s dead… Oh no Kallus just witnessed one of his best friends die a painful death… oh no he’s going to hear his screams in his nightmares for the rest of his life… uh oh–

Kallus spends two weeks in bacta (because being completely paralyzed tends to do a number on your nervous system), and when he wakes up, he’s been transferred back to Coruscant at Jr lieutenant Jovan’s request. 

And he is fucking angry. Angry at the galaxy, angry at Saw Gurerra and his stupid fucking lasat merc, he’s angry at himself, he’s just fucking pissed. And what does one do when grappling with this severe rage that is no doubt coinciding with survivor’s guilt and PTSD?????

If you answered “go to therapy,” you are WRONG, the correct answer is, obviously, “delve headfirst into your ISB work so that you don’t have to unpack and deal with all of your emotions, so that way you can stay angry and let hatred and fear fester into what will eventually morph into xenophobic bigotry.” 

So that’s what Kallus does. He’s working all the time, he’s a stand-out member of the ISB on route to climb the ranks, but at home, he’s become unpredictable in the bad way. Jovan doesn’t know if he’s going to get the Kallus that he knows and loves, or if he’s going to get the Kallus that’s closed off, stone faced, and tired.

So, what do you do when your boyfriend of four-ish years is kind of obviously going through it, and refuses to talk to you about it, no matter how hard you try to get him? If you answered “tell him to go to therapy” you’re WRONG, the answer is, obviously, “start fights with him on purpose because you just want a reaction from him because he’s been stonewalling you for the past three months.” (because there's obviously no way that this line of reasoning could possibly backfire, obviously this will work out in your favor.)(Sarcasm-- Jovan has bad ideas, never do what Jovan does)

Anyways, if you want more info on Jovan and Kallus and a little bit about my HCs for their breakup, you can find that here

SO BASICALLY, in the span of two years after graduating, Zavyn’s fucked off, Kilians dead, Kallus doesn’t know how to cope with grief so he puts all of his time and effort into the ISB, and Jovan just wants his boyfriend back to the way he used to be, which results in their eventual breakup. 

OH MY GOD YES THANK YOU FOR ASKINNNGGG

For those who are like "wtf who are Zavyn and Kilian, I direct you to these posts: The Academy Friendgroup, Zavyn and Jovan

Okay so here’s the dynamic that’s happening:

Jovan and Zavyn have been friends since high school– Zavyn’s cool. Like not a cool guy, he’s actually super pompous and self important, but he does, unfortunately, have just… a cool guy vibe, so Jovan does kind of look up to him in a way. Cause here’s the thing, Jovan is a follower. He doesn’t take risks, he watches and he copies, and Zavyn has just been a cool person to copy. 

So they’re kind of already a duo when they pull up to the academy

Then we have Kilian. Kilian is the sweetest guy you’ve met in your entire life. He’s from Naboo, he’s an artist, he reads poetry, he has a favorite flower (space sunflowers, thank you for asking), his favorite color is yellow, he’s a little bit of an introvert, he wanted to become an author, but his parents just insisted that he join the military so… here he is… and he is none other than (drumroll please) ONE OF JOVAN’S BUNKMATES. 

So you have Jovan, aka friendliest little rich boy ever, who is then inviting his sweet introverted bunkmate to things with Zavyn, and so they’re a little trio. Until the weird little pale kid in the corner catches Jovans eye, and he decides that he simply must befriend that guy too.

So Jovan befriends Kallus, and eventually drags him into this friend group.

Kallus and Kilian get on really well. They’re kind of the “odd ones out” of the group. They’re both two kids who didn’t really join the empire because they wanted to, but because of external forces that encouraged them to do so. In Kallus’ case, he wanted the financial benefits that he could reap from military service, and in Kilians case he wanted the approval of his parents. But Kilian liked Kallus’ dry sense of humor, and Kallus liked Kilians laid back, low energy vibe. Its just works out. 

But little did Kallus know it would be a feature…. A creature feature… featuring….. The creature (Zavyn).

Kallus does whatever he wants whenever he wants. And Zavyn also does whatever he wants whenever he wants. And Zavyn is used to Jovan kind of doing whatever he wants him to, but now Jovan is kind of doing whatever Kallus wants. 

Which is in Zavyn’s book, of course, bad. Because, even though Zavyn does whatever he wants, he is a stuck-up goodie two-shoes who falls perfectly in line with all of the rules and regulations of the academy. Kallus, on the other hand, finds a particular joy in coming as close as he can to breaking the rules without actually getting caught. And By GOOOODDD does that piss Zavyn off. 

So they butt heads but they keep it cordial, mostly for Jovans sake.

Now… I want you to imagine that you’re in a lecture at the academy. You’re trying to complete an assignment. And from behind you, you hear the sounds of four nineteen year old boys in the back of the classroom losing their fucking minds. Two of them are fighting, the other two are trying to work, one of them– when he isn't fighting with that one kid– is flirting with one of the kids trying to work, and the kid trying to work is so flustered that he keeps getting distracted, the other kid who was just fighting keeps telling the flustered kid to work, but he’s also not doing his work so he’s kind of just a hypocrite. Literally only one of the kids is actually doing their work but he’s definitely really confused and keeps asking for one of the other kids to pass him the textbook but they are lowkey not listening because–

YIPEEE ID LOVE TOOOOO I LOVE THE ACADEMY LOREEE

But before I get into this, I did also just answer another ask about their friend group that you can find here!!

So the fact of the matter is that Zavyn thinks that Kallus is trashy. He lacks class, he’s too loud, he’s too different, he stands out in a crowd. And Kallus thinks that Zavyn is a classist son of a bitch who should shove his shoe down his throat.

And here’s the kicker, Kallus, at this point in time, is not afraid to speak his mind. He has his opinions, and if you disagree then that sounds like a you problem. He’s from the lower levels, he is upfront, blunt, and combative. Zavyn on the other hand? He comes from money, he’s used to the social politicking of the upper levels. He’s passive aggressive, he’s a master at under-handed snide remarks.

So they butt heads OFTEN, but Kallus is willing to let some of Zavyns BS go for Jovans sake, because as nonchalant as Kallus acts, he does care about Jovans opinion, and he doesn’t want to start actively fighting with his best friends. So Kallus and Zavyn manage to get along for Jovans sake.