a little more or less platonic petekentakim for you this lovely friday evening:
so a few days ago the discord server got to talking about how we wish we’ll see more pete in season two because let's face it, in season one his character was pretty much there to make both way and kenta more sympathetic to the audience and we didn't really get to know who pete is as an individual.
my personal hypothesis can be summed up with “lonely.”
like he's really conscious of his abilities and the power imbalance they create in relationships. he can control his telepathy, of course, but it's not like he can just switch it off. it takes a conscious effort to tune out people’s thoughts and he's gotten so used to having a low grade headache all the time it's basically his normal. and as he sits in his fancy penthouse late at night, with a glass of expensive whiskey, all he really wants to do is lay his head on someone’s lap and have them play with his hair until it doesn't hurt anymore.
and here’s where kenta comes in.
sure it's a result of lifelong trauma and systematic abuse, but kenta has an unique ability to just turn his mind off and disassociate. once he's settled and gotten his own head in order, he’ll gladly share it with pete. when it gets too much, pete will knock on his door and curl up on the couch, and kenta will zone out with his fingers in pete’s hair, both of them drifting in a blissful, calm quiet.
kim will come home, not realizing it's one of those days and only spots pete after he's dropped a kiss on the top of kenta’s head in a greeting. “sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt” he says, offering to leave, but pete tells him to stay with a quiet “it’s okay. his thoughts turn all fuzzy when you do that, like honey. it's nice.” kim decidedly does not blush and after changing out of his work clothes, walks up to the couch and asks if there's any room.
pete happily makes space for him until all three of them are tangled together. he apologizes again, knowing his mind isn't quiet like kenta’s but pete shakes his head, relaxing into the contact. “but your thoughts sound nice” he tells kim. “when you think in korean it's like having music on.” and if kim makes a conscious effort to think slow and low, well that's between them.
kim’s bilingual brain saving pete on multiple occasions. kim sees him walk into a garage with a pinched expression, rubbing his temples, and sighs. he pulls pete into the supply closet - ignoring the wiggling eyebrows and scandalized looks from the rest of the pack and staff - and makes him sit down before pulling the enigma’s face into his abdomen, humming a low tune as he thinks his way through an engine maintenance manual in korean until pete finally sags and relaxes.
