#basically c!tommy and c!dream are such amazing narrative foils and I will force you all to read about that

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

like I could and will analyse c!tommy and c!dream until the heat death of the universe but the most simple, fundamental thing that is important to get is that they genuinely like each other on some level. they were friends once, very close friends. they grieve over the loss of that friendship. they have positive memories of each other. the simple days of the past they long for is one where the two of them were good friends!

the main difference is how they handle it. c!tommy has tried to move on, despite this being deliberately used against him. he struggles with it, and sometimes unhealthily wants to try again, even though he knows at the point it’s at it'll be horrifically abusive, but he’s made a new support network and processed his thoughts on c!dream. he says he hates him- and he does, definitely- but there’s a lot more complicated thoughts there. most of all, he's accepted that no matter his thoughts on c!dream, he can’t fix him. c!dream has chose this path and c!tommy trying to drag him off it will only hurt himself. you can’t help someone who thinks they’re fine, and will hurt you if they try. c!tommy, despite everything, has moved on.

c!dream, however, clings to that past. he clings to the idea in his head where c!tommy is as chaotic and impulsive as he was years ago, and they caused chaos together. it’s easier to make him a scapegoat than for c!dream to confront the truth, but behind his anger comes a twisted compassion, a twisted desire to “help”. stubbornly, he refuses to let the friendship go, and if he has to beat c!tommy into submission to prevent him from leaving like he feels everyone else has, he will. he's desperate, and he feels alone- and all the kind words of any of his friends mean nothing as things change and he lashes out, drives them away in a fury because he feels that they're betraying him by changing too, not staying in the perfect fantasy he has in his own head. c!tommy is the last remnant he has, one he clings to, because he refuses to see how he changed and therefore he assigns so much value to him. and for that, he’s one of the few people c!dream would consider a friend, yet that bond is one of twisted affection. one where c!dream views himself as a guiding force, where he controls c!tommy's every thought and action and abuses him if he fails to live up to arbitrary standards, and completely dictates his whole life. and when he claims it’s because they’re friends, he does not lie, yet that friendship is possessive, cruel, and toxic, one he refuses to let go even as c!tommy has.