I know there’s been a bunch of discussion on what Aaron’s motivations were in his confronting andreil scene and like my hot take is that it wasn’t entirely being protective of Andrew but it also wasn’t solely selfish motivations of dating Katelyn either. Obviously Aaron is protective of Andrew re: Thanksgiving murder, but also while he doesn’t necessarily trust Neil, I find it highly unlikely that he actually believed Neil was, you know, a sexual predator. And obviously he was like you can’t have your cake and eat it too while saying I don’t get to have cake. But I also think the root core of that scene Aaron was establishing his own autonomy with Andrew.
More than anything, my hot take is that confrontation was Aaron framing his desire for his own autonomy in lens he knew Andrew would understand and demonstrating that he understands that Andrew cares about him. You don’t want me dating anyone because you think it’s just going to hurt me, then what if I don’t want you with anyone because I think it will hurt you. And through that framing, I think Aaron’s angle was to convey to Andrew “if you are an adult who can make your own choices, then so am I” and trying to assert that autonomy without Andrew perceiving his establishment of his autonomy without it being a rejecting of Andrew. I don’t need you to protect me, not because I don’t need you, but because we are equals. You don’t stay because I have no one else, give me the opportunity to prove I won’t leave because I have others.
I think Aaron going into that conversation was more than anything trying to make the assertion that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, that they can both have other people without losing each other. And to do that, he had to appeal to Andrew’s logic.
tangentwithtanner
titsay
2087
