Golden child
Sooo do we ever wonder how James immediately clocked that Mika had a bruise on her face when first meeting her?
ANYWAYS! some headcanons.
Aside from Damien, James was punished the most physically.
James constantly had to ''prove'' himself to his father in any way he demanded. This ranged from his intelligence to his strength and even his emotions. How to be the perfect strong, cold blooded king.
And he mastered all of it except for his emotions, James just couldn't help himself from showing how he felt when it came to his brothers.
He'd yell and argue about how Erik wasn't respected by the rest of the court. He'd rant and rave endlessly about how unfair Sam's battles were. He'd fight the imps who disrespected and insulted Matthew. And he'd even cry and beg to his father and mother to release Damien from his chains in that horrible dungeon.
Eventually the demon lord did manage to break James somewhat. Years of torture didn't just make James stop showing his feelings, James just stopped feeling completely.
At least....that's what he tells himself.
James still deeply feels everything but he also reasons it away. Or disassociates until he forces himself to forget what he was emotional about in the first place.
Once the boys escaped the demon world it was pretty awkward between them and James.
James was effectively a stranger to most of them and they found it somewhat off putting when James barely emoted.
Erik was the first one to really connect with James.
Erik has a kind and laid back air to him, he's responsible and doesn't have ''expectations'' of James.
This very much makes James feel more at ease and able to emote to a certain degree.
The hardest person for James to connect to is Damien. James really doesn't like Damien's mind reading. He's very off put by the idea that someone could just know what he's feeling all of the time.
He tries his very hardest not to show his discomfort, but of course Damien knows. And James hates himself for that.
After a long time and some very deep conversations, he starts showing his emotions a lot more.
He does still want to take care of his brothers tho, he often prioritises his brother's problems over his own.
James still occasionally has his bad days, he'll be very disassociated and spacey on days like that. Sometimes he'll even go mute.
His brothers have all found ways to help him through that tho, even if James still finds it very hard to be taken care of by them.
It's why he tries to hide his bad days from his brothers most of the time.
(more headcannons about his future in the human world will come next time :P)
