If only John knew that Aaron still took Robert back after what happened at the lodge, after being sent prison for his shooting, after 2017. John has only seen Aaron dealing with Robert cutting him off after being sent to prison and itās a totally different league of emotions. He thinks he understands Aaron and Robert but he does not and heās about to find out soon enough.
completely agree, anon.
iād go even further and say that john met aaron at a time when heād tentatively found a way to survive after The Great Severing of 2023, which is a part of aaronās journey that isnāt talked about nearly enough imo, especially for how pivotal of a moment it was for the version of aaron weāre seeing right now.
he went from āhurting myself physically doesnāt really hit the spot anymore so iām going to emotionally cut off every single person iāve ever loved and loved me in return bc living with this pain isnāt worth it tbhā (which, not to bring everything back to him, also feels like a huge fuck you to robert, like heās saying āwatch me irreparably damage all the relationships you gave yourself up for me to have, assholeā, but maybe iām looking too much into it idk) to understanding that doing your best every day is the only thing you can do and being with your family can be enough of a life to get byā¦. THATāS the aaron that john met.
someone who had to shed a lot of himself (perhaps too much) to even think about existing, so itās not a surprise to me that john has no clue about the depth of feeling aaron is capable of, because heās never seen it. just like aaron has never seen johnās dark side and what heās capable of in that sense. theirs is a relationship where theyāre both hiding A LOT for this semblance of perfection thatās ultimately never going to compare to real and deep connection that robert and aaron have.
