#great now I want an AU where dfs decided to be a menace and immediately started following following around and calling him sifu

[kingsandbastardz]

Yeah it doesn't matter how much you love your parents or whether they're very close with you - there are some things you just don't want to say or show to them. I 100% agree that they didn't start as friends and that their first impressions were trash. On one hand, FDB was trying to establish hierarchy with a guy he saw as being an arrogant upstart with delusions of his own self worth/abilities. His repeated attempts to establish a pecking order was totally his expression of that. But...on the other hand - out of every other possible insulting relationship he could have picked to show his dominance, why did he chose sifu? He had enough fuel to argue that his rank was higher (easily could have chosen master for "I'll take charge of you bc you're so lowly and pathetic.") but he went with the thing that involves reciprocity in behavior when what he really wanted was for DFS to acknowledge him as his better. lmao. I guess this means he also wants to be acknowledge as being smarter, more learned, having more to offer.

I feel like this points to a certain type of upbringing where he was taught to take charge of people seriously. It isn't just about being insulting, but also "I'll teach you real kungfu." I mean yeah he was being a little shit. But I'm willing to bet he'd actually take it seriously if DFS took him up on the offer against all expectations. (he wouldn't like it, but he'd actually put thought to it and try to teach him something or at least protect him lmao)

The interesting thing about the trust issue is how he trusted dfs to not harm him, but didn't trust him with LLH. So I wonder if it's partially himself taking a sort of responsibility over dfs' actions in that he thought he could physically manage him or whether he was treating it like having two dogs that don't like each other and managing the situation in the easiest way he could think of: keep both parties apart.

He didn't like dfs' violence, but if he can trust him to handle himself well with menial tasks or things requiring strength? He'd appreciate someone who works so I can easily see him as having ideas that DFS was ultimately trainable. That is until he found out he was actually that DFS. Which brings up the question - did he ever figure out whether DFS had an issue with his martial arts, or did he continue to assume that DFS was tricky and had been faking helplessness all along? I mean, later on when looking back at things and understanding how big of a liar LLH had been. Or did he assume LLH and DFS had been mysteriously colluding with each other?

DFS revealing himself completely to fdb in the pear array of longing/lost love/whatever that thing is called -- i would personally be like wtf how do you hide that level of power? Ppl with any level of training should be feeling it just by him sitting quietly in the next room. (side note: these kinds of complete reveals is always accompanied in my head with implied vulnerability. Not physically in this case, but usually something emotional or psychological. In this case, I point toward the intrigued oh-no-he's-hot moment from fdb's pov. And dfs' playful, almost flirtatious, behavior as he's being ganged up on. And also skill-and-power as the implied language they share between the two of them as an ongoing conversation.)

I love dfs being fdb's equal from his own standpoint. But I keep getting the idea that fdb wants to establish certain kinds of boundaries regarding their relationship if only because Fdb is the type that talks. He needs to discuss things. Things went sideways with LLH because LLH refused to communicate over lying. But at least he does talk. DFS.... obviously doesn't. He talks so little, llh developed the ability to read his mind to understand him. So it's like FDB still uses the old language of himself being the good hero and DFS being 'the great big demon' like he's still that child at the beginning of the series treating everyone like they're storybook characters -- though he's clearly progressed past that emotionally by the end of the series. His mouth and mental definitions still haven't changed because as far as we know, he and dfs hasn't had important conversations yet.

I have mixed feelings about the care FDB makes LLH accept because while it comes from a good place, like you kind of said - where he sees this as the type of understanding he wished he had as a child. But if you remove the understanding from the care itself, this is what he had from his parents where they tried to anticipate and provide for his needs/wants until they thought he was hurting himself. In a way he's replicating this with LLH - and just like his parents, he came to the realization that LLH (and himself) would do what they'd want regardless of what the caretakers want - which is for them to be safe. At the very least, I think he came away from all this with a better understanding of what his parents went through.

And back to fdb venting his energy at DFS who doesn't mind because:

it gives him a chance to play around

he can absorb it without damage.

he likes seeing fdb become exponentially stronger - it tickles his lizard brain in the fun sword place

FDB is cognizant dfs is a human and not an object so wouldn't take it too far since they're part of the same unit, but he's still going to come out of the other end of their interactions with a bit of a buzz. Think of him as being a human rage room. You know the ones where people can go for an hour or two and without being judged, they smash every piece of china and furniture in there?

DFS is like a mild version of that room except none of the dishes will break. Until he does. I wonder what will happen in a post canon where DFS might potentially have ptsd surrounding violence framed as either mastery or a game? Which isn't what these two do at all, but there might be enough hints of similarity to trigger memories... Or would he lean into this to purge his hind brain of fear through exposure and FDB is the one that gets weirded out?

Anyway. One last thought about LLH giving DFS and FDB to each other. I love that the letter is given to FDB while it's addressed to DFS. I've been in situations like this as a kid where a parent will be talking to someone else, but I fully understood the implied and silent direction would be for me to follow up repeatedly with the other kid and to ensure their safety, or that they follow the instructions, or supply any help they might need to complete that task. DFS is not llh's responsibility because he's a grown ass adult - that's why he phrased it as "If you are interested" at him. But for FDB it was very much - "Follow him. Keep an eye on him. Pick fights with him if you have to. It's very important to me that you take care of him Make sure he's ok."

mysterious lotus casebook is about a generation of people stuck in time, and one boy who's the age they all were when they stopped moving forward but unlike them he still gets a chance to be Young