Ironically, the thing that made me first ship these two was seeing the first crack in their relationship. There's just something about Ix's desperation to relieve Kocis's pain, barely stopping to consider the solution Gefion proposed, contrasted with Kocis's betrayal at finding out what Ix did to save him (because he'd rather be in pain with their link fully intact).
In general I think their fight was really well done... They're both like this so it had to be this way. But it's BECAUSE they love each other that it worked out this way! So many of the things Ix did that hurt Kocis were because he loved him, and I don't think Kocis would've been quite as hurt if Ix wasn't someone he loved and trusted. (And it's not like it was just that he was upset with Ix either! He was scared of hurting Ix too!). Everything about their respective moping while they were apart too...
The start of their reconciliation was actually what made them go from just something I shipped to my OTP though... I'm a really sucker for sentiments like "I won't let anyone say you shouldn't exist!", but I also just really love that Ix's counter argument to the idea that Kocis shouldn't exist is that he wants and needs Kocis. The whole scene is just sooo sweet...
I really love how hard their relationship is to define, and also how they both talk about it in entirely different ways, lol. Kocis's "Master is my master (refuses to elaborate)" energy vs Ix's long speeches about what Kocis means to him... I love that they have that familial element of unconditional love, but that there's so many other ways they love each other too.
I also think their bickering is really super cute! They're very good at not actually hurting each other with it, and so many of their jabs are super fond. I really like how towards the end Kocis keeps being unable to not smile while making fun of Ix's taste lol.
For once I actually really like that they AREN'T co-dependent. They're perfectly fine on their own, neither of them are clingy per se. But they WANT to be around each other! And I think that lack of co-dependency makes the amount of time they spend together feel that much more deliberate. I think Kocis's desire to be detached at the end of the story plays into this really well too... The idea of no longer being literally bound together, but still choosing to spend the rest of their lives together... I think a lot of that also plays into their rebuilt trust which, SOBS.
Scenes that are either important to their relationship or make me happy as a shipper. (Spoiler: every scene is important) Likely an eternal WIP just because the game is too long and my memory is real bad.
Did you know they canonically sleep in the same bedroom? I just think that's neat :). You should listen to Ix waking him up in the morning. (Incidentally, in that clip they're not at home, they're on a ship. So they appear to have gotten a private room together on the ship!?)
However, in the Asteria crossover event, Mileena says they've been keeping Kocis's room clean... Which means that Kocis moving into Ix's bedroom is a new development. Realistically this is just a continuity error, but it's fun to poke at reasons it might've happened. To better protect Ix while he sleeps! To make sure he sleeps in the first place! ...the obvious ship goggles take of them being a couple now! It feels like such a short lead time from the end of arc 4 to the part of the epilogue where that's confirmed though, so regardless I think it's funny how quickly they went from not even being on speaking terms to sleeping in the same bedroom lmao.
I did discuss it with a friend a while back who brought up a good point that it would actually make perfect sense for Kocis to have been sleeping in Ix's bedroom in the past. As a fairy, the most logical place for him to sleep is honestly probably Ix's bed (or perhaps a pillow on a table somewhere in his room). I think maybe he had his own bedroom once he was larger... but it wouldn't be impossible for him to have his own and still sometimes sleep with Ix...
Its absolutely just because they mostly appear in pretty crowded scenes towards the end of the game's life, but after their reunion they always get smushed together in scenes. Maybe they really are always standing that close together, though.
I think Ix caught feelings in arc 2. Their arc 2 reunion is the happiest Ix sounds in basically any voiced segment, and as a very biased shipper I get a little bit of a "wow you got hot while I was gone" vibe off of it HAHA. He also later reflects that Kocis "saved him", which has to refer to SOMETHING in arc 2. But either he's having a little bit of selective memory and favouring Kocis over everyone else (kinda cute lol) or referring to THAT scene (or maybe just generally Kocis being his lifeline to the outside world and keeping him sane?)
It feels like a lot of people think if it's unrequited, it's Kocis->Ix. Personally I feel like Kocis's feelings, while intense, are very easy to read as platonic, whereas Ix just comes off... a little weird? I don't think Ix himself realizes how down bad he is until late in the story though.
When the final part of the arc 4 epilogue came out, my ship goggles reaction was pure "Proposal??? They're engaged now????". But then I saw that JP twitter was full of people going "they're getting divorced?!"... Now I like to joke that they're getting divorced so that they can get married lol.
Even without the idea of them being married, I really want Kocis to take his surname. Ix said they're family!! Kocis doesn't have a surname of his own, so surely he can be a Nieves?
It would be out of character, so I don't seriously think this, but everytime I look at Kocis's arc 3+ outfit... and I remember who decided he should wear that... Ix...
