!! oh, you played as martha at one point,,, that is HELLA cool 👀👀👀 you would know better than i would in that case, i'd say
one thing of note is that this is less a heathers au and more heathers-inspired, even taking into account that i'm only keeping elements of the premise; i listened to all the songs in order/watched animatics, and learned trivia about how different productions would vary in acting choices (i.e sometimes ram secretly likes martha but buries it and sometimes he really really doesn't) - so i get the gist, but it isn't 1:1. this is self-indulgent to the fullest
regarding my choice of feli as martha; there's a few reasons for doing this. one is that my interpretations of feliciano get very self-indulgent as well, and may not be the same as how other people in the fandom write him (i like hetare feli lots). this is the most important one to contextualise my entire thought experiment, however;
it was midnight. i was watching epic the musical animatics and it got me feeling nostalgic, ergo how i went back to heathers animatics
through youtube comments, tvtropes and a lot of searching i discovered the trivia about how ram actually does have a soft spot for martha depending on acting choices. upon learning this, my brain superimposed the image of martha's suicide attempt getting interrupted by ram.
and then i immediately felt pain because. i don't actually like ram from heathers the musical
i didn't want that image superimposed on my brain hfjhhdhdhdjd my apologies to martha but ram is NOT prince charming material. i wanted to replace that image with a ship that i actually like asap, so off-kilter gerita au it was
it was past midnight by then and i was very sleep deprived.
anyways. i felt i could equate the part where martha is described as having her head in the clouds in a way (dreaming of a happy ending, being called 'weird all the time' by ram in big fun, the song kindergarten boyfriend, etc) to feliciano being feliciano in anime/manga canon (the main timeline, anyway)
since early canon germany thinks veneziano is weird and off-putting and takes time to warm up to him, veneziano also calls germany his first friend, very clearly is seen as annoying by some other nations (re: america and england kicking him back to germany in a skit and getting annoyed when france kidnaps him again) and comes off as head-in-the-clouds-ish + incredibly clingy. (which made for fun contrast when it was germany that tried to confess and veneziano that was oblivious in valentino, but shhhhhh that's not as relevant for this au)
so by putting feli and ludwig in these roles, i was essentially thinking 'feli is still clingy towards ludwig, who's going for the American High School Milestones™️ as is expected of his gender-assigned role, and doesn't have time to indulge in feli's whims'. and that maybe, as ludwig attempts to leave feli behind, feli thinks in this au 'ah. our younger days... that was my first love huh' like a softcore less non-death version of realising that hre is dead
and it works better if feli stays a guy and isn't genderbent the way kiku is for his Veronica role, because feli's eccentricities wouldn't be enough of a deterrent if he was a cisgirl. cisgirl feli would likely be conventionally attractive enough to be commodified, whereas i could probably swing gay slurs as the reason for feli getting the short end of the stick in the heathers social hierarchy. like he tries flirting with girls as well but his silliness/klutz tendencies/evidently still attached to ludwig who appears uninterested gives a different image
ergo, in this, feli clings to any scrap of affection that ludwig still gives, like a dog. and then when feli goes to ludwig's party due to a fame note of affection (i think gilbert's the one that'd have to host the party probably, considering ludwig's entire personality) ludwig cottons on that feli got a note supposedly by ludwig himself
and that's where ludwig stops playing along with the ram role i haphazardly assigned to him in my plan to rid myself the vision of sympathetic ram
like 'oh shit. my reticence towards feliciano is being used against him in some sort of bullying tactic. feliciano is being targeted' and in sudden panic ludwig goes from largely not acknowledging feli in school to stalking his every footstep. and when the other sports players go 'hey... i thought we agreed he was annoying...' ludwig just sloooowly shifts in front of feliciano while giving off a very suspicious, very disconcerting glare
and people who're more familiar with ludwig know that as popular as he is, he's actually pretty straightlaced
like if i were to use actual Chandler, Duke and MacNamara for the Heathers instead of substituting them with Hetalia characters (going back and forth on who it should be since there's no true villain in hetalia), it would be akin to 'they tried - maybe even succeeded - in having sex with him or scoring a date with him, but he isn't mean or objectifies them or anything'. and keep in mind ludwig still holds pretty strong (though suppressed) affection for feli in this timeline i'm cooking up so romantically speaking at least they'd probably think he's as affectionate as a dead wet fish
so while there are of course people who think 'long-lasting bullying tactic?' or 'he's being too good to an idiot who doesn't deserve the help?' (because this is still inspired by heathers) it becomes pretty clear that no,,, ludwig isn't just feeling responsible for some reason or playing a trick,,,,, he actually likes this guy. 'i didn't know this guy could smile at anyone like that' kinda stuff
so when kiku comes back to feli to see if all is okay with the guy feli had been pining over, they eventually make an alliance over making sure feli doesn't trip over his own shoelaces
again, self-indulgent! although now i'm thinking about kiku's role again,,, like What are his motivations as the veronica in the first place...
social connections maybe? 'trying to build a network for the future, those three seem competent and are capable of leadership' and then walks into a shitnest of epic proportions that takes kiku a while to draw away from
i still don't know who kiku's jd is. i don't even know if kiku will have a jd. for all i know veronica!kiku doesn't offend her version of chandler at all so no murder happens and the character that would have been veronica!kiku's jd helps her realise that trying to hang out with the heathers for future networking is going nowhere
it at least gives an explanation on why kiku is wary of ludwig at first in this, though. 'you're not like that group, right. i know they tried to use you to humiliate feli so why are you here' and then the stark relief upon realising that ludwig is a Decent Person, Actually
and upon hanging out with feli again and becoming more familiar with ludwig, this version of kiku realises that there is a way to Forge Connections for the Future that isn't hanging around mean girls. ludwig is genuinely competent, and his presence is a grounding presence for feliciano that allows for his buried capabilities to shine. this could be the start of something. Let's Start A Club.
it is hours past midnight again, so i am... gonna stop typing. hope you enjoyed, and if you did not... sorry ^_^" good night :>
