last thing i'll say on this tonight but the reason it bothers me is because like. troy's book starts with him being publicly retaliated against for calling out dallas kent for being a rapist. troy does the right thing in calling out this actual irredeemable bastard and he's the one punished for it while dallas is protected. and this kickstarts him actively working to stop hiding behind that homophobic douchebag mask and be a better person. he makes the choice to do it and keep at it whether people forgive him or accept it or not. and it's before he's got any reliable support system- he's not close to his new team or anyone else yet, but he still wants to be better. and he doesn't expect anything from anyone for it. aside from his relationship with harris, troy's entire book is about him working to be a better person. and so many people's first reaction to a character genuinely wanting to grow and change from his past mistakes is "no actually youre worse and irredeemable for reasons i just made up"? that just doesn't sit right with me.
These are some of the main reasons why he's my favourite.
He starts his path of redemption on his own. There is no one that looks at him and says "I can fix him" he wakes up and does it himself.
Also at no point do people forgive him or suddenly start liking him, because they realise he is basically depressed or notice any of his other many issues (like only Ilya and Harris know about the human trash that is his father). They see he is trying and that's the important part.
He chooses to be better on his own, every day, starting off with no support and a shit ton of luggage and grief.
He is doing something incredibly brave, while believing himself cowardly.
