i mean, the obvious answer here is hayate is kip's prince and kip is hayate's knight. but i do think there's something to be said about, like, the maladaptive fantasy of that all, right. like, another good one for kip -> hayate is like "my world" or "my everything" or some such, right. LMAO. and frankly is prince much better than this? on the other side of this hayate seeing kipper as his knight is like, well. does he? he definitely Knows kipper is not fulfilling this role, right, but like, his crush on kipper is very straightforward in the fantasy sense. so in a respect, sure, he's probably got some completely divorced from reality fantasy where kipper whisks him away into the sunset and they get married and live happily ever or whatever. and i think at the end of the day, like, hayate's fantasies are, you know. escapism - to a version of reality where he's young and free forever. and, importantly, is not sick, has never been sick, and will never be sick again. so, sure. in that fantasy, kip might be the one shielding him from those realities, the way a knight protects his prince. in the context of how kipper is in real life of course this is fucking absurd, lol. so from either side, the prince and knight thing is obviously super unhealthy for them
post-kipgate, though...well, i think they'd both just end that sentence with "best friend." which is definitely a good thing lol
