Favorite sbg ship and why the dynamic is so important (I’m doing a poll)
i will die on that hill. i love all ships (mostly... there's an exception of ashlyn x logan), but TYDEN? oh my god, those boys make me hurt.
they are so incredibly similar, yet entirely different.
they both struggle with home life, but on completely separate sides of the spectrum. the hernandez family is poor (for a lack of a better word), while the clarks are pretty rich. tyler's father died from his illness, which could tie back to the fact that hospital bills are extremely expensive--especially in america. on top of that, after his father's death, marianna hernandez wasn't able to get the proper mental attention for the crippling grief she's experiencing. BOTH of his parents are absent. for aiden? his parents care more about buisness than him. he's left alone for months on end ever since he was little, and used to be forced into a prestigious box by his parents. fairly, he's grown distant from them. BOTH of his parents are absent. BOTH of their parents are absent, but in different ways.
they both had to teach themselves. they both had to raise themselves. they both had to learn how to protect their own person. tyler had no one to lean on but his sister... and, knowing him, he probably rarely did. he quit his passions to keep the house up and food on the table. i'm not going to give him full credit, as taylor probably pitched in, but i haven't read into her character enough to override the thought that tyler would have burdened himself with all the work. aiden had to keep himself alive and going even while conscious of his parents considering a printing mistake to be the most concerning part of his life, NOT the fact that their son is evidently mentally unstable. aiden had to learn how to live in an empty house even before ben came to live with them. aiden had to learn how to detach from everything around him because his home kept moving from place to place. he has literally stated that he has NO social experience beyond random people passing in the airport. BOTH of them had little to no one to act as their parental figures. to help them grow up.
they both don't know how to deal with their emotions. tyler is hot headed. but he's not rude at heart. he's protective of his sister, his family, his home, and himself. he uses this anger to make him look and feel stronger than he is emotionally. he uses this anger to persuade people into thinking that he's confident in himself, that he has more to live for than he actually does. tyler bares the teeth he doesn't have just to bite against skin he can't rip. his sharp-tongue and personality might not be a deliberate tactic, but it still solidifies the idea that he is someone who you shouldn't mess with. who puts his foot down and can't be swayed. aiden, obviously, is rather "manic" and self-destructive, constantly keeping up a facade of "hey look at this guy, he's so annoying and cheerful and kind of insane and i couldn't bother looking any deeper than that." it's clear as day that he doesn't smile because he wants to. he needs to. not only can it be frightening to others--this clean, shining, gaping smile paired with terribly red irises--but it's 100% a defense mechanism. at the surface, he doesn't want people to ask him if he's okay. because that means admitting he isn't, and getting help. it means being vulnerable. so instead? he gives into the adrenaline and slightly-probably-very homicidal tendencies to purposefully make him feel off. JUST so that the thought of ever getting that close to him wouldn't cross people's minds. BOTH of them can't fathom the idea of being "weak," and project themselves into these personas that are more violent than they actually are.
they bicker. they bicker so so so much and it's incredibly endearing. they fight, but they stay within boundaries. it's apparently so as they still enjoy each other's company. they still play games. they still tease each other. their "quarrels" are nothing serious. this kind of banter brings people closer than it keeps them at arms length. which... is the ENTIRE purpose of their image. they are SUPPOSED to keep up their guards. but joking forces people to loosen up and laugh. which, in most cases, is the complete opposite of being defensive.
they understand each other. ESPECIALLY tyler. tyler is so damn observant. he was the first and only one to clock that aiden is suicidal, and confront him about it. he was the one to realize that aiden, too, was having those nightmares. he was the one to ask (albeit, indirectly) if aiden was okay. because maybe, just maybe, he saw himself in him. and guess what? they both died. they both DIED. they know what it is like to go through that pain and come out of it alive. they share that trauma. they share that weight. there's so much potential in their relationship for season three. it cannot be a coincidence that red put the two and only dead boys together. it cannot be a coincidence that these both of these two, so different in such a similar way, died in the first place. it could have been tyler and anyone else. it could have been anyone else and aiden. but it was them specifically. i refuse to believe that there wasn't a reason for this choice, especially because of their parallels.
anyway i could keep on going and going and going I LOVE THEM SO MUCH CAN YOU TELL???
