TL;CR

[cyclists]

TL;CR MEME

1. Comment with your character.
2. Receive comments from others.
3. Reply to their comments with long ballads and explanations of your characters' relationship throughout the game.
4. Endure everyone else reading your comment like the vultures they are.

Comments

[leaberator]

tell me how good friends they are

[nonbelligerent]

cries

SO HE LIKED AXEL RIGHT AWAY if mainly because Axel was one of the only adults around. Sure, he's a dumbass, but Shess is so tired of being surrounded by babies. It was nice to be able to chat with someone as an equal, and it helped that Axel was so laidback? I mentioned this in Jiji's tl;cr, but Shess did generally feel a certain pressure (self-imposed or otherwise) to be a certain person for various individuals, but Axel was one of the few who had zero expectations of him so Shess could just be whoever. Didn't have to be emotional support, didn't have to walk the line between "don't think I'm kinder than I actually am" and "but also don't think I'm some psychopath either", etc. He didn't tell Axel much about sura beyond that "yeah we would've tpk'd in week 1 if more were here" but he's pretty sure Axel wouldn't judge?

Anyhow, they could just talk and joke around and snark at each other (and also Axel was fun to tease). AXEL WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE SHESS WAS MEANEST TO but in a friendly sort of way.

I hate that Hisoka brought them together because that's a cursed line to write but it's unfortunately true. They got to discussing the note, and then roles, and thus Axel pretty much became Shess's go-to person for plot talk because he was basically the first. Plus, bonding over mutual Hisoka suffering, though thank god Axel got the lion's share of that.

That said, Axel's reaction to Mary did make it clear that Axel, while logical and ruthless in his own way, was also someone who could be ruled by his heart. Shess didn't really begrudge him too much for it because tbh that's a very human response (though getting his role doxxed to Milla was sort of his punishment), but AXEL AND KARA MADE SHESS SO TIRED. Learning that Kara hated Axel in the same moment he learned Kara was the Nebula that week made him tired. Inadvertently setting his own relationship with Kara on fire made him tired. Talking to Jiji about it made him tired. Realizing Xion was the corrupted made him tired. Talking to Milla and Emma after the fact made him tired. (Axel actually would've been invited to that meeting but Shess figured he'd rather spend the night with Xion.)

He moved past it after that weekend though since a) he wasn't going to choose Axel over Kara or vice versa, and b) he didn't think Axel was as dangerous as Kara made him out to be since it wasn't like Axel was a RAMPANT LIAR and he did do his best when anyone besides his friends was involved, so Shess just desperately hoped Namine wouldn't be corrupted (haha!) but knew she probably would eventually be and they'd cross that bridge when it came. Sorry, Axel. Shess simultaneously told Kara that he'd interfere if Kara tried to stab Axel but he'd also kill Axel himself if Axel did become a liability.

(I mean, the fact that Axel didn't seem to hold any of this against him and just went "fair" is why they were friends. They accepted each other's mutual shadiness.)

Until then, he still very much enjoyed Axel's company, and they still saw eye-to-eye on a lot (case in point, all the times Emma said or did something and Axel and Shess were both just "UH/WELL..."). He also appreciated that Axel took the endgame conditions well even if out of sheer stubbornness.

The moment he appreciated most, though, was Axel giving him ice cream and being all "yeah I assume you don't want to talk so just have my company instead." It wasn't necessarily the sweetest thing anyone did for him (i mean ig literally it was sweet) (jiji probably wins that one) but it was probably the gesture Shess was most grateful for. AXEL WINS IN HOW TO HANDLE SAD PEOPLE. Because yeah, it was a way of saying he was there for him without making Shess feel obliged to assure the other person their attempts were enough. Both Axel and Shess really did not like to talk about feelings oops but that probably suited them both just fine? At least for Shess, being able to just chat like usual while internally acknowledging that not great feelings were going on was enough.

He won't be taking Axel up on that offer for a vacation for a long time (but he will reply to all of Axel's cat pictures), though honestly if there ever reaches a point where Shess gives up on the world or whatever, he'd probably message Axel going "hey pick me up now" and yolo off to KH land ig.

FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!