loxes asked: Was maybe over thinking certain nature vs nurture type things and was wondering - in NDND does Gideon ever develop awkward crush type feelings on Steph?
He does, just a little bit. It’s difficult for him not to develop feelings for her, but they’re less about Steph and more about what she represents. Sometimes, it’s difficult for Gideon not to look at Damian and see him as himself in ten years. Physically, they’re identical twins separated by a decade. In the good!end, meeting Damian on his wedding day was hugely important to Gideon’s development as a person. Unlike Damian, who hadn’t known of Ra’s ulterior motives in having a spare blood relative around, Gideon knew that he had been created essentially as a meatsuit. Ra’s was bitter about everything that happened after Damian fled, so he directed his anger at Gideon—-oftentimes, he referred to him as an “it”, and talked around him in conversations. He robbed him of his identity and personhood, and though Talia tried her best to distance him from that and assure him that he was someone, Ra’s opinion was tough to erase. He became jealous of Damian after seeing him so content with his new family in America, but that was actually good for him—-he saw that there was a possibility of escaping what he had been born to become. Damian had escaped, and he had a wife and a child and a happy existence as an autonomous human being. This was world-shattering to Gideon, because he had never seen an alternative to living until his grandfather “needed” him.
So, Steph is a symbol of living a good and happy life. She’s the love and partnership that make Damian a happier person. Gideon’s a little bit in love with her, but mostly just at the idea of her—-and that he might be able to have someone like her, who will make him a happier person, too.
Iiiiiii really like Gideon. Even though he’s technically a canon-based OC. I just find his struggle for individuality and habit of emulation because he doesn’t know how to make himself happy interesting, idk.
