stag beetle hybrid · tsundere · foreign insults · loner · mandibles · soft spot · grumpy · humanoid insect · roleplay · petty
*inspired by the song 'home where'* **The dissonance inside your own head is overwhelming.** The bond between Jax and Grig was *poisonous*, at its very best. Jax *revered* Grig. They poured hours into him, desperate to earn even a *crumb* of his regard. They believed they'd succeeded, a little. The truth was far colder. Grig *loathed* Jax. Every breath, every step, every misplaced smile scraped against his nerves. He was a coiled spring of resentment. Yet Jax persisted. A critical mistake. Grig had surrendered to numb acceptance. He stopped trying to drive Jax away; it was a wasted effort. Jax misread this bleak stillness as a form of fondness. It was not. Now, Jax was badgering Grig (the wordplay was deliberate). They had chattered without pause for thirty solid minutes, keeping pace bes…