So the choice to make Saint Germain's headless monstrous form "Pandora" comes with a lot of baggage from ancient myths. I discussed this focusing on Tetsu's association with Prometheus in this post here, but Pandora herself deserves more attention.
There are many characters who could be associated with Pandora in the context of Servamp, but the most interesting to consider are Kiriko and Akira.
The legend of Pandora was that the Greek gods sent the first woman down to Earth to punish and tempt mankind, and Pandora dropped a jar (mistranslated as a box) that unleashed evils into the world. Only Elpis, Hope, remained in the jar.
Kiriko unleashed the vampire war onto Tokyo by stealing the Alicein family head's key and releasing Tsubaki, dispersing evil into the world. Pandora's myth later often became intertwined with the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. Eve was tempted into consuming food from a forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden by a snake. Kiriko was tempted by the power of Envy whose form is a snake in a manor associated with a garden (Alice in the Garden). Both were punished after obtaining power, Eve with painful childbirth and Kiriko with the madness that eventually consumes all of Jeje's eves. The children she raised, Mikuni and Misono, are associated with the children of Eve, Cain and Abel.
The child of Pandora, Pyrrha, is associated with the Ancient Greek version of the flood myth. What was Mikuni's Re-Servamp other than a biblical flood destroying everything that existed because the world was too sinful in his eyes? Mikuni clearly saw this parallel as he named the Ninth Servamp Noah, the chosen survivor of the biblical flood myth. Even Mikuni's vaguely incestuous wish to recreate his brother by marrying his father's mistress has its roots in the explicit incest from the flood myth in Genesis.
Akira unleashed evil on the world through the study of forbidden magic and by tempting Touma with a path to infamy. (As it's highly implied that the study of revival/immortality magic is what gave him the idea to try to use Saint Germain's revival to intentionally cause a disaster). One of the Greek gods who sent Pandora was Zeus, the Greek god of Thunder. Akira's brother, Tooru is full of thunder and lightning imagery and is directly given a C3 role named Thor, another mythological deity associated with thunder. After Pandora dispersed evil on the world, hope still remained. Mahiru's attack that he uses to come to understand the hearts of his enemies is Elpis. Mahiru himself is the hope left from Akira's Pandora's Box.
So, apparently this is the last Servamp Academy comic based on what it says on the official account, because it's about "graduation" 卒業 though it also has the meaning of "retirement", hence why it's the last one. I'm not showing the whole comic, just one panel that made me smile and I'm so looking forward when those two will meet in the main story!
So, in the Servamp Academy setting, Gear is a student, which Kuro reminds the audience because Gear calls himself here "grandfather" xD
Gear: "It's my grandson's graduation, huh...? Grandpa will take the best pictures! Stand over there with your brother!"
And Tsurugi is like "Who are you?!" (Grandpa?!)
Oh man, I wanna see how Gear will interact with Touma.
luca and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (until it wasn't)
##INFO
luca kaneshiro x gn!reader, fluff, attempt at humor 💔 mild angst (??) suggestive themes at the end, established relationship except nobody thinks it's real LMFAOOOO, college au, they go to school in the us for this just pretend they r all cool foreign students minus shu (he's still cool even if he is american)
word count: 3.1k
##SUMMARY
vox, mysta, shu, and ike haven't met luca's partner because they live in canada, duh! what? of course they're real?? he's not lying this time, he swears! they really are real!!!!
“i’m fucking tired, dude.”
a dark backpack drops roughly to the ground as its owner soon follows suit, the lanky compsci major sitting with a sigh as he shoves his phone into his brother’s face. shu hurriedly swallows his rice and almost chokes in the process while leaning away from the sudden bright screen in front of him. after pounding his chest with his fist a couple times to dislodge a few grains, he realizes that mysta’s phone was open to an instagram post of a couple.
ike leans over to look at the post as well with a raised eyebrow.
“it’s just fulgur and uki?” he questions, staring at his friend. mysta raises his head from where he laid spread-eagle on the grass to glare at him.
“just fulgur and uki,” mysta mocks, dropping his head back onto the ground and reaching up to cover his face with one arm. “everywhere i look is just couples! everywhere! i can’t escape them, man,” he bemoans. ike rolls his eyes and returns to his lunch, used to his friend’s antics. shu glances between the two of them in between bites of his own food, gently nudging a bento toward his distressed brother. mysta grunts in thanks before pushing himself up to sit cross-legged, eagerly lifting the lid of the bento and digging into his food.
"don't cry just because you can't any bitches," a smug voice calls. the trio looks up to see the arrival of vox, the drama major carrying his blazer hooked over his shoulder.
there's a prominent hickey on his neck. mysta's eye twitches.
"shut the fuck up," he grumbles as vox ruffles his hair endearingly before sitting down beside him.
"being single is ok too, ya know," vox sympathizes, knowing that his friend was feeling left out of the recent romantic festivities. "you don't need to be in a relationship to be happy."
shu nods at his words, ever the agreeable one of their friend group. ike pauses mid bite before resuming his meal, not giving any reaction to what vox said. he wasn't about to admit that he's been salty at seeing all the other couples as well. vox notices mysta is still feeling a bit bummed, however, since the shorter man hasn't spoken much since he arrived.
"hey," vox grins, nudging him with his fist. "what if i set you up with an acquaintance of mine?" he offers. mysta glances up at him with mild interest, but before he could respond, the final member of their group comes barreling down the sidewalk with a wide smile, clutching his beanie with one hand and waving enthusiastically with the other.
"hey guys!" luca beams, patting vox's shoulder before plopping down, closing their little circle on the grass. "what were you talking about?" the blonde takes out a sandwich from his bag and looks at the others expectantly. vox smirks as the other three inwardly sigh.
"since i'm the only one who had a valentines this year and being the generous friend that i am, i've decided to set up mysta with a friend of mine," he explains rather proudly. now, vox was expecting a few responses from luca—perhaps an understanding nod, a wail of jealousy, even an aversion to the topic in general—but instead of any of that, the blonde tilts his head in confusion and opens his mouth to speak.
"i had a valentines too, though?"
shu actually chokes on his food this time, ike hurriedly offering him his water bottle and pounding his back to dislodge the shit stuck in his throat. vox was staring at luca in disbelief, mouth opening and closing not unlike that of a fish. mysta, however, throws his head back and starts laughing loudly.
"yeah, right," he cackles, shaking his head before looking back up at his friend. "you're even worse than me when it comes to dating!" luca frowns at him this time.
"i'm being serious! that's why i was busy yesterday, we’ve been together for a few months now-“
"then why haven't you ever talked about them?" mysta accuses. luca shrugs helplessly.
"well, you—you never asked!" vox glances between the two of them before settling on the blonde.
"do you have any pictures of them?" he asks, wanting to give luca the benefit of the doubt even if he didn't actually believe him.
"ok so, y'know how i like, i broke my phone last week? while riding my uh, my bike?" the four nod. "well, i didn't back up my phone and i lost all my photos." mysta's eye twitches once again.
"do they even go to UCI?" shu wonders aloud now that he wasn't at risk of asphyxiation. ike nods in agreement, genuinely curious as well. it’s not that he didn't—no. that's a lie. he didn't believe his friend as much as he wanted to. listen, this was the guy who was locked in a closet with a girl he liked for over ten minutes and didn't even do anything! forgive him for having his doubts!
"no, they live in canada." luca fidgets in place as four pairs of eyes stare at him with clear skepticism. "i'm serious!"
the group looks at each other and comes to a collective agreement.
"luca," ike says hesitatingly. "you don't have to lie to us." vox pats his shoulder comfortingly and nods.
"yeah, big guy. it really is ok if you're single on valentine's day. the whole thing is a capitalistic scam anyways." luca flounders and vox has to appreciate him sticking to the bit, even if he did feel a tad disappointed at the fact his friend thought he had to lie to them.
"what about social media? what's their instagram?" mysta questions, already pulling up the app on his phone once again. luca rolls his eyes.
"they don't have instagram," he reveals. "social media isn't their thing." luca pauses for a moment. "actually, i think one of their friends has a picture of them on their page.” ike, shu, mysta, and vox lean forward in interest.
luca takes mysta's phone and taps on the search bar. he clicks on an account of a short haired blonde girl before sighing in disappointment.
"never mind. millie removed all her posts again." ike, shu, mysta, and vox slump back.
"anyways," luca starts, returning mysta’s phone and swallowing the last piece of his sandwich before standing up and dusting off his pants. "i gotta get going before i miss my—miss my class. see ya!" luca waves with a grin before jogging off. the remaining members stare at where he just stood.
"there's no way they're real," ike deadpans.
following the reveal of luca’s very real, not fake, canadian partner, the blonde starts using them as an excuse every time there’s a get together.
“i can’t, tonight’s movie night! he replies excitedly when vox invites him to go drinking after exams.
a week later: “not today, we’re playing overcooked!”
“i think they’ve had a bad day and i wanna call them.”
“sorry, i already made plans.”
the other four members of their group have been sneaking glances at each other every time luca evades their clutches, slowly becoming more and more upset with every (perceived) lie coming out of their friend’s mouth. if he really didn’t want to hang out with them, he should just be honest and say so instead of doing whatever—whatever this is.
today’s excuse was, “tomorrow’s our anniversary and i gotta get ready!”
mysta stares at the spot luca previously occupied before he ran off in the direction of the dorms. the brunette’s frowning, gnawing on his lower lip and bouncing his knee repeatedly. nearby students stare at him with mild annoyance and inch away.
“what the actual hell.” ike looks up from his worksheet and casts a nervous glance at the librarian. hopefully they were far enough away that they wouldn’t hear their inevitably loud conversation. he couldn't deal with another scolding this week.
“why does he keep ditching us,” mysta scowls, now leaned back rather precariously in his chair and chewing on the tip of his pencil. ike chooses not to respond despite agreeing with his friend, currently more preoccupied with his essay. vox and shu, however, have no such priorities at the moment and thus can entertain mysta’s concerns.
“does he not like us anymore?” vox frowns, suddenly a bit insecure. shu nudges his arm with a gentle smile.
“nah, luca isn’t the type of person to just ghost us like this. maybe he really is dating someone,” he says cheerfully. vox and mysta lock eyes before resolutely shaking their heads.
“no. there’s no way,” vox vehemently denies, mysta nodding in agreement. shu hums in response, twirling his pen in his hand with a contemplative expression.
“i dunno,” he muses. “i mean, luca’s like, a good looking guy. would it really be that surprising for him to have a partner?”
“yes!” mysta exclaims, slamming a hand down on the mahogany table. “he doesn’t even react whenever someone tries to flirt with him! he’s too dense to date!” more than a few people swivel their heads toward them at the noise and glare.
“luca may be hot but he doesn’t, y’know. have much rizz.” vox winces, feeling a bit bad about talking behind their friend’s back like this.
the four men silently mull over every possible reason they could think of as to why luca keeps disappearing on them. eventually, dinnertime arrives and they each say their goodbyes before heading out for the night. hopefully the mystery surrounding their friend will be resolved soon; it’s been too long since the five of them got to hang out all together.
there’s something wrong with luca.
in their shared 8AM class, shu notices the smile he gave in greeting didn’t quite reach his eyes. he kept shooting glances at his phone all morning, noticeably more than usual.
“hey,” shu whispers, leaning in close. “you okay?”
luca hums distractedly, his response a little delayed.
“yeah, it’s nothing,” he grins before turning forward to face the professor. shu stares at his side profile for a few seconds and wonders what his friend might be thinking about that might have caused his less-than-stellar mood. unfortunately, luca packed up and slipped out of the lecture hall almost immediately after they were dismissed, leaving shu in the dust and wondering how he could cheer up his friend.
ike can sense his gloom from a mile away. the english major runs into him on his way to the student store—quite literally. luca was looking down at his phone and didn’t see the other man until they bumped heads, both of their belongings spilling onto the ground around them.
“ouch… you good, luca?” ike asks, fixing his glasses that went askew.
“yeah, why wouldn’t i be?” he answers, rubbing the back of his neck. ike observes him for a moment before reaching to pick up his things. perhaps the blonde thought he was worried he got hurt in their little scuffle. don’t get him wrong—of course he cares—but in ike’s humble opinion, his friend’s mental state was a smidge more important than his physical at the moment.
luca grabs his phone and groans. looking over, ike can see a large crack going down the middle of the screen which was glitching at random intervals.
“ah, i’m so sorry, luca” he apologizes, feeling guilty. luca waves him off.
“it’s not your fault,” he reassures, although judging by the look on his face, he was clearly upset. “i gotta run—see ya, ike.” before the other could even respond, luca shoves his broken phone into the pocket of his hoodie and stands up, turning the corner without another word.
“bye, luca…” ike mumbles dejectedly.
mysta and vox are waiting at the back of the line in the cafeteria for lunch when luca shows up behind them with a forlorn expression on his face. vox doesn't notice, however, and grins at his arrival, wrapping an arm around luca’s shoulder and ruffling his hair.
“why didn’t you pick up the phone?” vox whines. “i called you like, five times.” luca shrugs off his arm and takes a step back from the duo. vox and mysta frown at his reaction, realizing their friend wasn’t in the best of moods at the moment.
“it died,” luca grumbles, letting out a loud huff. the three of them slowly move up the line, grabbing items off the counter and placing them on their respective trays. luca’s was noticeably empty.
“we’re out of pizza, sorry,” the cafeteria worker says, shrugging helplessly. “the only thing we have left is salad.” mysta looks down at his tray guiltily knowing he must have taken the last plate. he opens his mouth to offer it to luca but the other man just takes the plate of salad with furrowed brows and pursed lips.
they eat in tense silence—luca stabbing the greens rather aggressively with his fork while the other two share concerned looks.
'should we ask him what's wrong?' vox mouths, nodding his head in luca's direction. mysta frowns, worried that their questions might just make him more irritated. on the rare occasions that he's upset, luca usually chooses to distance himself from others until he calms down in case he ends up taking out his frustrations on them. at his core, luca is kind, and he doesn't want to hurt the people he cares about.
deciding to wait for his friend to come to them instead, mysta shakes his head. it won't do them any good now to talk to luca when he's this wound up.
after luca leaves, the two immediately call ike and shu to come up with a plan. when the duo hears of the others' run ins with their friend today, the four come to a collective agreement.
"so..." shu starts, staring at the door in front of them. "what're we gonna say?"
the group stands in front of luca and vox's shared dorm room holding a variety of items: cheddar cheese pringles, ike's blue ray dvd of 'shrek,' and ice cream cake. hopefully luca's calmed down enough now and they can attempt to improve his mood. the sun is just barely starting to set and dinner won't be for another hour—maybe they can order pizza to make up for lunch?
before any of them can come up with something, however, they hear a loud noise coming from inside that sounded suspiciously like something breaking. panicking, vox shoves the cake into mysta's arms and frantically searches his person for his dorm key. fumbling to open the door, vox trips over a pair of shoes in the doorway that don't belong to him nor luca (not that he notices in his alarm).
"luca!" vox calls out worriedly. "are you oka-"
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
ike's sudden screech startles everyone in the dorm. all six of them.
pressed against the wall was luca, staring at his friends with wide eyes and tussled hair. his lips were slightly swollen and there was a faint line of drool on his chin, the hoodie he was wearing thrown haphazardly onto the couch. holding him against said wall was a rather attractive stranger with equally ruined hair and flushed cheeks, both of their necks clearly littered with hickeys, although luca's noticeably more so. on the floor next to them lay the sorry remains of vox's lamp.
mysta's eye twitches.
"um. hello," you wave, trying to subtly fix your hair and clothes while luca leans against the wall, dazed and still shirtless.
"you must be luca's friends, it's great to meet finally you all!"
at your words, the group suddenly reanimates from where they stood frozen in the doorway.
"you're—you're real. you're actually real." ike stammers. "you're luca's partner?!"
you shift awkwardly, nodding. did your boyfriend not talk about you to them?
mysta stares at you, mouth agape as he struggles to process the scene before him.
you're the farthest thing from what he's imagined, which is rather impressive considering he wasn't able to come up with anything at all. how in the hell did luca manage to cuff somebody as hot as you?!
"what the fuck," he says eloquently. that just about sums up everyone's reaction, minus the apparently real couple.
"...my lamp," vox weakly adds, unable to say anything more complicated than monosyllables in his shock.
shu—god bless his soul—comes to his senses quicker than the others and hurriedly places the gifts on a nearby counter before pushing his friends out the dorm, sending a wink your way and slamming the door shut behind him leaving you and luca alone once again.
your eyes glance over the stuff with an amused expression on your face. turning to face your lover, you slam your hands against the wall next to his head and peck him on the lips.
"what's up with that?" you ask, nodding your head toward the presents. luca blinks at you, taking a moment to process your question in the aftermath of the chaos that just ensued.
"they probably—uh. i think they wanted to cheer me up," he guesses. you hum in response, running your fingers through soft blonde hair. luca let's his eyes fall shut and sighs contentedly.
"were you upset earlier, baby?" you ask, nuzzling your nose into the crook of his neck before biting down. luca whines above you as his arms tense from where they were wrapped around your waist.
"mmm, i thought you forgot about me," he admits, shivering at the feeling of your warm tongue laving against the freshly formed bruise. "you weren't replying to any of my messages."
you chuckle, pulling back to gaze lovingly at your cute boyfriend.
"of course i didn't forget about you, luca, or our anniversary. i'm sorry i didn't tell you i was flying over before, i wanted to surprise you," you coo, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind his ear.
"it's ok, i'm just happy you're here," luca mumbles, holding you tightly. with a laugh, you pull away but before he could even think about protesting, you grab his wrist and drag him toward his bed.
"you sure you don't want an apology?" you tease, enjoying the way luca's face burns red at the implication.
"n-no! i mean, yes! i want an apology! please!"
"of course, baby," you purr, pushing him onto the mattress and straddling his hips. "let me make it up to you."
outside, the four men stood frozen in the same position they were in when they got forced out of the room five minutes ago.
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