PLS if it's ok tell me ur thoughts abt younger santi and jamie.... the way u draw them is sooo β€οΈπ
OKAY SO YOUNGER JAMIE AND SANTI IS SOMETHING I AM, IN A WORD, OBSESSED WITH.
I think about them often and they haunt my waking and dreaming hours in equal measure.
This panel has haunted me in so many ways. Like, sorry, Santi describing him as the "funniest,friendliest guy I knew on campus" unfortunately means there's a point in his life where Jamie's shoesies joke or his crab walk would've cracked Santi up and hey? That tears up my guts to even think about.
I think a lot about what must have drawn them to each other. Proximity,sure, when you live with someone there's a degree of closeness there, but tons of people live with roomates that they don't particularly know or care for. These two were close and by god I wanna know why so bad.
Also this bit gets me, lol. Because Jamie didn't have to do that. And if he was as big a selfish jackass as Santiago makes him out to be in his head, then he definitely wouldn't have.
The part that really baffles me is what on earth could've possibly drawn Jamie to the closed-off, flinchy and dour Santiago in the first place? We've SEEN what Santi is like meeting new people, and it's β¦ not great.
He's not very sociable, to put it lightly. He's also an awful communicator, which I guess is fortunate for Jamie. Since it seems he's either unable or unwilling to read people's faces/mood. A perfect awful terrible storm of a guy who can't tell when his friend is mad versus a guy who will NEVER tell his friend when he's mad at him!
Santiago also seems to, on some level, register how much Jamie genuinely cares about him. For all his talk about killing him and Jamie making his life worse, he seems to be upset when he feels like his thoughts are ACTUALLY tearing down Jamie. Even in his own head, he feels the need to defend him- insist that he knows him better, that he really is a good guy.
Compelling to me also is that Jamie leaving him seems to be such a sticking point in his head. If he was as awful as Santiago says to himself, if he really hated having him around, the thought of Jamie leaving him wouldn't distress him so much.
So even if he doesn't say so, or acts like he doesn't, fact of the matter is that this friendship means as much to Santi as it does to Jamie, if not more.
I think what it fundamentally comes down to on Santiagos end is that he is somebody who doesn't like himself.
Because he doesn't, he assumes nobody else will either. He thinks everyone is out to get him, despite evidence to the contrary.
So Jamie choosing to be around him, willing to take him out and include him and look out for him, is something precious to Santiago in some way.
I think that's part of the reason he keeps so much inside, he assumes that even the people who like him - like Jamie - are just waiting to turn on him, secretly hate him, don't actually like him. I think he would assume if he turned Jamie down on his party offers enough, Jamie would get tired of him and go find someone else to hang around. Santiago desperately doesn't want that. So he bites his tongue and puts on his ratty sweater and goes to another shitty party.
Their relationship also being described as fun "for a while" is intriguing to me, especially because it seems like whatever rift is going on between them is fairly recent, Jamie still seems to think they're best buds, based off his treatment of Santi.
So I wonder when exactly it stopped being fun for Santiago, and more importantly, why?
I honestly think Jamie played a part in whatever Big Awful Thing happened between Santiago and his ex girlfriend but that's for another time.
Back to them as slightly younger guys than we know them now, I can imagine that maybe Santiagos cautious nature and hesitation is probably part of what made Jamie so interested in him friendship-wise. I think it must be a little thrilling, a little special, to be able to talk somebody who's normally so nervous into coming out of their shell a little bit and seeing them genuinely have a good time- maybe they even wind up thanking you for it. I imagine something like that must make you feel really, really incredible.
Jamie seems like a pretty pushy, upfront,impulsive guy in general, I can imagine that maybe being something that bites him in the ass more often than not, but seeing it pay off in his relationship with Santiago must feel really, really nice.
So as for what drew them to each other, I think to put it really simply: they made the other person feel special, without really trying to, and kind of on accident.
Jamie's overly friendly and familiar attitude made Santiago feel wanted and Santiago being willing to play along with him made Jamie feel important.
I honestly think part of that is what makes Santiago SOOO unshakingly sure that everyone thinks Jamie is the best thing ever, that people MUST know who he is, that people LOVE him, that he's EVERYONES favorite guy at a party. Jamie and Santiago both seem to have this issue where they can't really imagine someone feeling differently about something than they do.
Santiago thinks Jamie is incredible and amazing for having the guts to do all these things Santiago couldn't imagine himself doing (drawing attention to himself, talking to people, being generally social) and he kind of doesn't get why anybody wouldn't also think that about Jamie. Which leads into his bubbling, latent, resentment for Jamie but that's also for another day.
ANYWAYS THIS TURNED OUT REALLY LONG AND JUST AN ANALYSIS ON THESE TWO IN GENERAL SORRY. SORRY. HI AND SORRY AND BYE
