ok so I'm kinda coming at this from a queerplatonic angle but hear me out. They're Bros. they hang out together regularly and play games. now Ayato is a very busy, stifled, emotionally repressed, and kind of sadistic person. so why on EARTH would be hang out with Itto to just play games? he doesn't even like, torment him or anything. HENCE!! this is where I posit that Ayato ENJOYS spending time with itto because he ENVIES him, he envies how carefree and happy and playful and ignorant he is, he envies how he can just...be. and when Ayato is with Itto, he gets to feel a bit of that too. he's not the head of the kamisato clan, he's not an important figure in the tri-commission, he's just My Bro Ayato. it gives him the relief to just exist. itto on the other hand experiences so many hardships, people harass and attack him just for existing in a way that is obviously queer (in race, in neurotype, in orientation....(though i HC him aroace)). he's relieved just to have a non-child companion who seems to respect him and play with him and hang around him for who he is, not for who the law wants him to be. i posit that, similar to how Ayato feels accepted in a way that lets him shed his family crest and weight of responsibility by Itto, itto feels accepted in a way that lets him wear his horns with pride. because itto's unabashed ADHD and oni heritage and love for his hobbies is exactly what is ATTRACTIVE about him to Ayato in the first place. there are only like 200 fics for these guys on AO3 the last time I checked. i feel so strongly about them. does anyone see my vision. please
THE YEARNING. Xiao's true dream is to find freedom but he still feels bound to his contract with Rex Lapis because technically he Did free him from his previous master so therefore his current duties are technically a form of freedom so to look for another form would be a betrayal and then we have the god of freedom who would probably never initiate for fear of issues with consent but probably also just wants to be seen as himself and not just a god and. yeah