TELL US WHAT HAPPENS TO DARREN IN HIS EARLY 20S THAT CHANGES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CASEMENT COUSINS !! [wilhelminafujita]
ok! oh my god im finally answering this im so sorry it took so long smh ok iām a clown and in order to answer this fully and tell the whole story there is probably going to have to be like 3 parts smh so
So it all begins when an inter-school ball is held at hogwarts, similar to the Yule Ball. Being awkward teens, everybody is panicking over getting a date. Evie doesnāt end up getting a date because 50% of people are scared of her, and 50% think sheās a bitch. She pretends she doesnāt care because sheās gotta keep up her reputation but sheās secretly a little upset about it. But then a few days before the ball a charming, French boy, named Adrian asks her. (click here for adrian background)
Ā Evie finds him pretty irritating because he keeps following her around trying to convince her to attend it with him, but shes secretly relieved someone asked her. So they go to the dance together and Evie has the worst time. Adrian is even more annoying and he keeps quoting really long, weird Shakespearean quotes. And Adrian keeps doing it because he enjoys winding her up,Ā itās very amusing. Finally after a very long night, theyāre about to go their separate ways and Adrian leans into give her a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye. But Evie not realising Adrian is just doing the European kiss greeting/goodbye, thinks instead heās being sleazy and :
And thatās when Darren meets Adrian. Darren attended the ball because Evie and Cillian had mentioned it and he was bored so decided to crash the ball. He witnesses Evie punching Adrian and Adrian's subsequent shocked reaction. Because of Adrianās abuse, when he was hit his body kinda shut down a little. Darren sits there with Adrian talking to him and making sure heās ok until Adrian finally seems to calm down. Adrian is just so shocked and amazed that anyone would ever sit with him and make sure heās ok? Something like this has never happened to him before. Nobody has ever really checked if he was ok after he was hit or yelled at before.Ā
So heās instantly fascinated and in awe of Darren. They end up just chatting for pretty much the entire night as they begin to realise they have a lot in common and they just instantly get on so well. Theyāre strangers but they both feel like theyāre talking to an old friend. Without even realising they talk until the sun starts coming up and thatās when they decide to finally part ways, but they swap numbers and promise to keep in touch.
At first, everything is perfect and blissful. Darren and Adrian start messaging non-stop becoming close extremely quickly. And as soon as Adrian graduates school a few months later, and escapes from his abusive household, he and Darren meet up all the time. They begin to share their worries and anxieties with each other, which is entirely new for Darren. Darren has never really shared any of his anxieties with anyone, not even with Cillian or Evie, despite their close relationship. Adrian shares his experiences of his abuse and Darren shares his anxieties over his identity and not knowing anything about his biological parents. As a naturally curious person not knowing something so essential has slowly just been driving him crazy.Ā
And if their relationship had continued on like this, maybe things wouldāve have turned out very differently. But unfortunately both Darren and Adrian were in very bad mental spaces, Adrian most especially. The thing with Adrian is because of how he was raised he doesnāt know how to interact with people unless heās manipulating or lying. But he also has an insatiable craving and desire for someone to care about him, love him and need him. This craving caused him to develop this unhealthy habit of finding a personās weakness and manipulating that so the person feels they need to depend on Adrian for support. And with Darren it was easy. He didnāt even need to search that hard, Darren was very upfront and clear about his insecurities about his family and his background. So Adrian completely grasps onto that.Ā
He sees how close Darren is to his adoptive family, Cillian and Evie and his other friends and that causes Adrian to panic. Heās finally found someone that cares about him, sure heās popular and has lots of friends but none of them genuinely cared about him. This is so new to him and the idea of Darren being taken away from him is terrifying. He doesnāt understand that Darren is capable of sharing his love and care with multiple people. When Darren is interacting with others he get so anxious that theyāre going to steal him away. So thatās why Adrian creates the lie that heās discovered through his families powerful connections that he and Darren are actually cousins.Ā
It makes sense on the surface. They have similar appearances, the pink eyes (which are the significant identifying feature of members of the de montoire family)Ā tall builds and the lack of connection with theirĀ biological parentsĀ . And combined with Adrianās very convincing logic and āevidenceā, Darren believes him and essentially becomes chained to Adrian. Because finding out anything even the smallest tiniest thing about his biological family has always been his deepest and most desperate desire. And hereās this person who he feels intensely connected to ever since they have met, telling him theyāre related and he can tell him things about his biological family? Itās all heās been asking for.Ā
Adrian gradually starts acting more and more toxically, he starts slowly turning Darren against others, planting little doubts and anxieties about them in his head. He makes sure Darren starts believing that he is the only person he can truly trust, heās his real family heās the only one who truly understands him and cares for him. He starts deleting texts and messages on Darrenās phone and encouraging Darren to be more aggressive and hostile and start physical fights with people, which Darren would never do before. Adrian noticed how fond Darren still was of his ex- girlfriend ( the only girl who had actually broken up with Darren rather than the other way around) and so Adrian made sure they wouldnt be close again
However, Darren also was consciously behaving impulsively and recklessly and was encouraging Adrian to do so also. Darren was already an impulsive, energetic person. Before he enjoyed the thrills of life but he starts relying on thrills to live. He starts partying harder and drinking more and doing more reckless, stupid things just to get a high off it. And he begins to encourage Adrian to get involved in that stuff too which causes Adrian to begin to develop a dependency on alcohol in order to deal with his issues. Another problem that emerges is, Darren is a very affectionate person, especially to those who heās close to however, Adrian hates touch because of his abuse, touch makes him feel icky and horrible. But he doesnāt actually tell Darren that because heās afraid itāll turn Darren off of him and scare him away since Darren is so touchy-feely to everyone. This makes Adrianās mental health deteriorate even further but heās so desperate to maintain his friendship with Darren that he suffers through it anyway.
Darren becomes more and more isolated from everyone else, cutting himself off from his friends and constantly getting into extremely hostile fights with his dads. Adrianās plan worked Darren has become completely dependent on him but Darren is also Adrianās only support system. In Adrianās mind heās done nothing wrong. But things reach a boiling point eventually. Darren starts getting extremely impatient and a little cold with even Adrian, because Adrian has told him next to nothing about his parents, while promising he would. So Adrian starts to panic and realises he has to actually find something.
Adrian takes the very little Darren knows about his parents death and begins to research. He knows that there was one other man was on the scene of the fire with Darrenās adoptive dad, Cathal. Adrian finds the newspaper that came out the day after the incident in the town library. In the newspaper thereās a picture of the man and Cathal but frustratingly the man is not named. He takes the picture anyway and uses his families contacts to try and find this man. He doesnāt find much but he finds out that the man is dodgy af and is currently residing in Dublin. He tells Darren this and without any hesitation Darren demands they go find this man immediately.
To be continued in: Part Two: Discoveries (honestly bless anyone who made it this far cuz jesus christ i ramble too much)
