15. Who brought what in the other’s life? (Did Person A bring Person B the light they yearned for? Did Person B give Person A the family they always crave? Etc.)
Grant - once again, I would like to remind everyone that Dimitri met Grant while he was in the midst of a mental breakdown, right outta a war, and started to become convinced that VR was the afterlife
like, don't get me wrong - Dimitri loves every single one of his boyfriends, dearly. But he'll always be able to look at them and be able to connect war to them, because, well, it couldn't be helped
but also because of Grant himself? because Grant isn't someone who was dragged from the midst of a war, so he doesn't act like it. He's just.... a nice Soft guy who was busy dading at his child
and even when Dimitri was trying to explain his theory of how they're all Super Dead Actually to him, Grant didn't argue with him or anything. He still just patiently convinced Dimitri into sleeping, and then helped him do more of that
What Grant gave Dimitri was... warmth, I guess? Dimitri is going to be a warm mushy mess with all of his boyfriends (when he's not arguing with Felix over veggies anyway), but with Grant, it's just very.... It just happens.
Sylvain - despite how much he ragged on Sylvain when they were younger about being a terrible skirt chaser (their c support is dimitri scolding him about it, probably because his room was right next to his, sylvain he caN HEAR YOU FUCKING-)
dimitri still initially introduces him to byleth as "capable person who values his friends", and honestly a part of his brain is never going to stop thinking of Sylvain as the Big Kid in their group who the rest of them would look towards
and that definitely showed in when they first met up in Cherrygrove again, also the time period where dimitri was Positive they were all dead, and Sylvain immediately went to hold him when Dimitri started crying
Felix - fun canon fact, but the Blaiddyds and Fraldariuses have been connected for basically a million years at this point, starting with the very first king who pulled Faerghus together, Loog
anyway. anyway. the two families have a history of getting along on a personal level too, with both of their dads having been best friends, and then felix's older brother was dimitri's knight, and of course the two of them were best friends
and dimitri adored felix, so the idea that he was so lucky to basically have it Decided By Fate that they'd be best friends? and that they'd stay best friends Forever because that was how it had always been?
as a fun part of his PTSD package, dimitri has massive survivors guilt. so he blamed himself for the tragedy that killed a bunch of people, and then he Definitely blamed himself for losing it at Sreng
i can't remember if i mentioned Sreng before, but basically someone decided that two teenagers, one Immensely Traumatized already from being the sole survivor of a massacre, should absolutely be sent out to put down a rebellion or whatever
even if felix occasionally confused the heck out of him ARE YOU STILL HIS FRIEND WHO WILL PLAYFULLY TALK WITH HIM ABOUT SWORDS OR NOT, FELIX, PLEASE LET HIM KNOW, HE HAS TO ADJUST THE SELF LOATHING APPROPRIATELY???
anyway, so that was a thing for a year, and then five years later got kind of worse because dimitri got kind of worse, as happens when you are already in a massive breakdown and then are blamed for your uncle's death and are presumed dead while you think someone else you love died for you-
he'd already been devastated at Sylvain and Claude being "dead", and, however much him and Felix had been clashing beforehand, well, he still loved felix Very Very Much and, like
he'd already been recovering slowly just because he'd been eating regularly and making attempts at sleep (thanks, kent the munna) and bathing and seeing sunlight
Summary: Dimitri and Felix were inseparable as kids, then the Tragedy fucked everything for everyone, and Felix got horrified/disgusted/traumatized by Dimitri's PTSD-triggered wrathful murder spree and their relationship foundered for a couple years
Then Dimitri entered a five-year fugue state, and they sort of made up in canon after he snapped out of it, only Dimitri is from before he snapped out of it and they made up and Felix is from after it
because Felix is so important to him, but Dimitri felt like he had ruined So Much for him. He couldn't save Glenn, Felix's brother, or any of the other people, and then he became a monster and Felix was right to hate him for essentially taking away his friend....
except then Felix looks him in the eye and tells him that he wasn't to blame for what happened to his father. Or to Glenn. and that Felix hasn't been doing "his job" of being by Dimitri's side.
and this has meant a lot to Dimitri, who for a long time couldn't see anything like that ever happening, who couldn't see the end of the war happening without his own death
so, for Dimitri, what Felix brought to him was just... forgiveness. And through that forgiveness, dimitri could get back something he felt so fundamental to his life, Felix's presence, which he had thought he'd ruined forever
Claude - fun fact, dimitri and claude are put down as school rivals, and you see a little bit of that in some of the moments during the school segment before things Go Bad and you're reminded this is indeed a war game
you see this a bit during the times when the house leaders actually interact with each other, and claude often teases dimtiri, or tries to rile him up if you have the two of them go against each other in the practice matches and whatnot
but during the school match against the three houses, he kind of responds favorably to claude trying to get under his skin, in that playful kind of "oh ho, i see what you're trying to do!!!" way
okay so, like, outright, at the start, dimitri got annoyed at claude because claude's initial reaction to a man in an active delusional/hallucinating state was to lay out a whole court case on why he was wrong, and, uh, that is not how you are to deal with someone having delusions
but despite that, when dimitri was able to recover at least a little bit thanks to basic life necessities and not having to worry about his life being in danger every other day/hour
when he was absolutely uncertain on what he was actually experiencing, what was right or not, the person he turned to, the person he felt that could help pull it together and have things make sense
oh, sure, when he was younger, he thought him occasionally frustrating, and rude, and dishonorable because please do not stomach poison his class, Claude
Yeah, like, Claude tried to Logic Dimitri out of delusions, which...that isn't how delusions work and it's just gonna make the delusional person feel worse
But also, Claude does not have anything remotely approaching a modern-day understanding of mental illness, so he was basically just doing the best he knew how to
but Dimitri has never felt that Claude was... cruel. Or didn't care. He ddidn't entirely get why he decided to go with the things he did, but he also always felt positive that Claude was a Good Person using his brain for Good Causes
So for Dimitri, to choose something in particular above all the other amazing things he feels Claude brings into his life, that open viewpoint and the ability to think of things different is definitely somewhere up there
15. Who brought what in the other’s life? (Did Person A bring Person B the light they yearned for? Did Person B give Person A the family they always crave? Etc.)