#using them as a literal symbolic gesture for his devotion and care for v

[zev-zev]

having more silverv thoughts and i have to share them.

i know the scene at johnny’s grave is THE silverv turning point, with johnny and v both showing off how much they truly care for each other but—that moment at the hotel with johnny when he decides to give v his dog tags???? god i love that moment too. esp with how johnny calls the tags “proof” of him turning over a new leaf; where he intends to save v instead of just letting them die. and i really think it’s such a HUGE gesture, especially coming from johnny! and not even solely because of his physical promise to v but because of what the dog tags once represented.

johnny fought in the corpo war. he was a blind follower under arasaka’s boot for a long time. hell! his robotic arm is arasaka made. he was a soldier. he tells v how he rotted inside that hotel room for days, or even weeks, realizing what a terrible human being he’s become under arasaka and just how horrible corpos truly are.

and yet— something he resents so much, he changes into something for the better. the dog tags once were proof of his rage. his blind, ignorant rage for arasaka, for the war, but mainly the rage he felt towards himself. johnny truly hated himself at this point in his life. it was his own pivotal moment in life where he, then and there, would take a stand against corpos. so much rage embedded in the metal tags but there he is; offering them up, his own twisted hate, to v. but with an entirely new meaning.

he offers the tags not only in proof of wanting to save v but in proof that he cared more for them than he let on. changing the tags meaning from his promise of rage to turning them into something v could have to think of HIM. to think of him at that moment. where any time the metal lay flat on v’s skin or when v would absentmindedly fiddle with the tags; johnny wanted them to not think of how angry he used to be, or how much he genuinely despised himself—he wanted v to think of this new side of him. this softer, caring side where he promised to give up his own “life”(so to speak ofc) so that v may live. the greatest sacrifice anyone could accomplish and johnny was willing to do it, for v! never rouge or alt or kerry or anyone else that mattered in his life, no, for v.

and it’s almost funny how johnny shows his feelings before this moment too. how as soon as v had passed out from the relic induced seizure, his first thoughts were to, not only save v, but to take them to the hotel where he had stashed his rage. knowing in that moment that he wanted to give up his tags as proof of his literal physical devotion to v. and god he was entirely devoted to v the minute he dragged the body to that hotel room. not only to serve as a place where v would be safe while they were incapacitated from said relic malfunction—but to also prove to v how much he was willing to change FOR v. because he cared so much about them even if he couldn’t really find the right words to say it.

knowing he took what was once his rage for arasaka, the war, the loss of the people closest to him during this time; took it all and instead turned it into his desire to protect and save v. and his rage is definitely not something easily given up on, which is clear throughout the game.

and ugh idk. just getting to see these little moments of where johnny changes but specifically changes for v drives me insane. every little moment between them feels so much bigger than it really is when you know that they’re meant to be soulmates.