@aroace-ryland-grace

my real #serious thoughts on how rocky would feel about stratt after learning the whole Everything is that he really really wants to be the "my friend isn't mad enough at the person who hurt them so I make up for it by being 10x as mad as is reasonable" guy, and that's absolutely what he externally shows to grace, but internally he's eating himself alive because he does actually get it. he can only put so much of himself into the argument when grace gets into a weird mood and starts playing "devil's advocate" about his own kidnapping and attempted murder and he feels like absolutely the scum-of-the-earth worst friend ever. what's even worse is that while he can sympathize with grace's story, he can't quite empathize; he's watching grace sleep one night and thinks to himself "...but why wouldn't he just say yes?", followed two minutes later by grace visibly (audibly?) getting one of his regular nightmares about being tackled and restrained. torment nexus.