I was in the middle of writing a story for a more mature Disgaea, but during that process I was inspired to write about "love" instead.

At some point in everybody's life they will encounter love in some way shape of form, and I'm not talking about that parental/familial love. I'm talking about romance. While I don't consider this particular work of fiction a romance in certainly deals with the concept of it, to be more accurate I would categorize it as a coming of age fiction.

My intent was to take this socially awkward and immature child and imagine what he would grow up to be like. Does he stay the same? Does he revert back to shutting everyone out of his heart? Or does he become a lady killer?

In this fic he has aged to the point where he begins to have thoughts of a lifetime companion who makes him feel like everyone should be jealous that they aren't him. A lot of gamers who have played the Disgaea series will find it hard to imagine that the spoiled, self-centered Prince would every grow up, but change is inevitable. In the span of one game, Laharl went from a power hungry brat to a power hungry, compassionate brat. Yes I know it seems like nothing, but it is a huge leap for someone who lived more than a millennium shutting any feelings like love or kindness.

Though as a character he wasn't too hard to figure out. I myself was very socially awkward when I was young and I know how hard it is to get out of your comfort zone and your close circle of friends. The first step in the process was to get Laharl to open up to someone close. At first I thought Flonne was a good choice, but opening up to Flonne on the subject of love would feel like he "lost" to her due to the fact that he had been denying love for so long. So through process of elimination the only one left to open up to was Etna.

Now opening up to Etna, while easier than opening up to Flonne, is still a very hard thing to do when you're Laharl. Thank God for alcohol. In all honesty alcohol is the only thing that's plausible and familiar enough with _ to have Laharl open up to Etna.

By far the hardest part about writing this was trying to get a balance of humor, logic, and keeping the Disgaea gang in character. Keeping them in character is very hard as I have to use my own logic and analysis of these characters to simulate how they would act with each other. Throughout, without a shred of doubt I can say that whether or not they're willing to admit it Laharl and Etna are very close to each other. Whatever they say or do to each other is not awkward in the least for them, which is a very a relationship that's hard to come by in real life.

Now here's where things get iffy. The closeness between Laharl and Etna is very similar to that of romance, BUT it is not romance...well at this point anyway. One thing about me is that I will almost never break canon. If it seems out of character I will not write it. NEVER at any point does Laharl have feelings towards a woman in the romantic sense, and I don't mean to direct that sense at Etna just because the two have some history together.

In the end, this is just another one of my explorations of the characters while at the same time trying to share my own ideas of love through these characters. I hope you enjoyed this read!

NOTE: I DON'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT SHIPPING. For example, "LaharlxFlonne=greatness n00b!" or "Ew LaharlxEtna is disturbing"

I never made Laharl and Etna a couple, and if you read close enough you'll see that.