Hi, I am now also very curious about your aro Ty and Felix headcanon(s), as someone who is very fond of them as a friendship. May we know more?
Ok I will take a stab at putting some of my thoughts on the Ty/Felix relationship into words here. This is actually going to be more of an extensive overview of my interpretations, and for that I apologize. From what we know about Felix’s background, we can be pretty sure that he has spent much of his life isolated. No major friends or connections from school, no siblings, and a somewhat estranged relationship with his mother. While they frequently talk on the phone, it’s clear that she isn’t someone that he can be emotionally honest with and he isn’t putting as much effort into trying to connect with her the way that she is with him. Having said that, Felix did used to have someone that he had a very strong relationship with, which was his dad that died while Felix was a teenager. He was essentially the most important thing in Felix’s life, which meant that when he died, Felix’s main source of comfort, connection, and support was ripped away without any comparable relationships for Felix to fall back on.
We know that Felix is a private and professional person, so I think it makes sense that after his dad passed away, he closed himself off and turned down opportunities to regain that sort of emotional closeness with another person. This isn’t too hard for a person to do: without good reason, the majority of people aren’t going to push too hard to try and get close with a person they can tell isn’t that into it. However, this changed when Felix was assigned by the compound to be Ty’s assistant, because Ty Betteridge is a person that is going to bulldoze right over someone’s boundaries with a smile on his face. Ty, whose loneliness responds to someone being not too fond of him by deciding to be extra pushy (this is part of the reason he is so fond of specific Mikes. He much prefers ones that will stand up to him, like Michael [see episode 81, with his enjoyment of Michael’s orneriness], than ones that are deferent, like Lop [see episode 250, with Lop’s passivity taking Yellow’s fun away]) is going to befriend Felix whether he likes it or not. (I do think that where Felix is at in the series, he has grown and changed enough that he’s open to pursuing new friendships, but Ty was the first to break through this wall.)
So now Felix and Ty have spent a long time working together, just the two of them in prolonged isolation. Even though season 4 added the presence of Mike Walters to the daily routine of the compound, that’s clearly a different relationship than the one they have with each other. Ty and Felix have become integral parts to each other’s lives, with Ty now serving as Felix’s primary relationship in his life, and Felix essentially being the glue that keeps the numerous Tys working as a unit. Especially with the way that Tys are not supposed to talk with one another, Felix has to be the go-between and also the main person Ty talks to on the daily. Basically, Felix has gone from being a loner to the closest confidant of 70 iterations of the same person, one with a quite strong personality.
We see throughout the series that Ty has a lot of power over Felix. Besides the obvious factor of being his boss, Ty has shown that he will resort to underhanded means to make sure that he gets what he wants and is always the one to come out on top. From smaller things like rigging the easter challenge to absolutely major things like forcing Felix to confront his long deceased father as a punishment for using compound tech for personal reasons, Ty makes it known that he has the upper hand in their relationship and that Felix doesn’t have much of a choice in contesting that. At the end of the Felix Chronicles, we see that Felix chooses to continue on as usual even after all of the emotional anguish Ty put him through. (This was absolutely a power play on Ty’s part. He uses the compound’s resources for his own personal reasons all of the time.) This was a demonstration of how far Ty is able to push Felix without Felix being willing to make changes in their dynamic.
Felix knows the kind of person that Ty is, but remains steadfast by his side. I wouldn’t call it minimizing or overlooking Ty’s flaws—Felix is well aware of and able to be direct and upfront about the ways in which Ty’s morals are less than ideal—but he doesn’t let them disrupt his loyalty to Ty (or the compound’s goals. These two things are very intertwined in Felix’s head, The commentary for The Felix Chronicles has some interesting things to say about this, and I’m pretty sure it’s free to listen to without being a paying member of the patreon!). If Felix were to decide that the ways that Ty acts is unacceptable and attempt to take action against them, then he would have to yet again reckon with possibly losing his strongest connection and only friend. Whether consciously or subconsciously, Felix chooses to accept the current dynamic, complete with the immorality of the compound’s conduct, because he doesn’t have much of an alternative. Letting himself truly become upset by his circumstances isn’t something he is currently in a place to do. Instead, Felix often finds himself amused by and even fond of Ty’s antics, even while they frustrate him.
Another thing I think is worth mentioning is how Helen Hartley factors in. Obviously the reason that Felix has such a strong dislike for Helen is because of his jealousy of her relationship with Ty. It was notable to see how strongly Felix reacted to her, when he’s usually more emotionally mature. To Felix, Helen is a symbol of how Ty doesn’t need him the way that he needs Ty. Instead of the usual world of the compound with just Felix and Ty, she is an example of how Ty isn't solely reliant on Felix as a support system, that he has other connections. I think it’s pretty clear that Helen and Ty are in no way romantically interested or involved so that’s not what Felix is concerned about, but her being competition for Ty’s friendship is a potentially even more intimidating prospect for him.
In general, I think it adds such an interesting layer if the reason that Felix’s jealousy and possessiveness is so strong is because he isn’t able to provide Ty with a romantic partnership. The way that society says that the most valuable and important relationships a person can have are their romantic ones means that it is a real fear that if you are a person who can’t or won’t offer one then the people you are close to will leave or deprioritize you for someone who can. Add that to the way that Ty has a lot more of the power and control in the Felix/Ty relationship, and it means that Felix has very little power to ensure that he won’t lose his closest friend. (I am interested in what Felix has to say about the whole Outlaw Ty debacle, which is this fear put in manifest.) Even though Ty isn’t abandoning Felix anytime soon, their unbalanced power dynamic puts Felix in a position of insecurity, especially without any sort of established commitment to each other that a romantic partnership would bring.
I love love love the way these two freaks are so weird about each other and how deeply intertwined they are in each other’s lives. Also the way they are just genuinely fond of one another even with how messed up their whole deal is. Listening to the show, you can tell they enjoy each other. Their bond is clearly cherished by Felix, which is why he so jealously guards against any perceived threats, particularly when he has such limited power. It’s really scary knowing that there’s a limit in what you can give people. That it’s completely out of your control if they choose someone who can provide the thing you can’t over you, no matter how important that person is to you. IDK, I just think that all of these themes of lack of power in personal relationships and the fear of loss just tie in really well to aromanticism, which is why I am so fond of my aro Felix headcannon. (I know the aro experience is a lot more varied than this, but I do think that this is something that is experienced by at least some people under the umbrella.) This post ended up being a lot more about Felix than Ty, which is mostly because he’s the one I actually headcannon as aromantic. Of course, these are only my interpretations and I’d love to hear any ways in which you disagree or agree!
