#nor was i going to write an Incest Essay unprovoked. but this is a very applicable quote to the dynamics you mentioned!!! for both.

[gratisdiamanten]

There's a quote in my native language, translated roughly to : there's no refuge from you except to you. Just wanted to share it because it reminded me of your max and jos stuff maybe even daniel?

Oh my goodness I think I know this quote!! If I’m wrong in recalling, biggest apologies. It does remind me, especially because it’s a religious quote, and while I’m raised Christian and not Muslim I definitely have a lot of religious quotes associated with Max and Jos. I think it’s interesting that despite Max professing to see no God or that he has no idols no one he models “God may be with him but he is not God” etc etc that he still had this unfailing devotion to him and trusted his word as like, the thing to follow. Against logic. Not putting neck pads on in Singapore years back because his dad told him it was a pussy thing to do. His dad is always right about him ultimately even when it hurt… his dad made him… it’s always We and Thank You Dad.

This is true for Daniel also but more in my writing than irl for sure. In my writing I engineer situations where Max can’t escape or Daniel is to Max seemingly the best option. In Apokatastasis, Max is like. 14 and in love with Daniel (who is the only person he can remember being kind to him) who doesn’t return that because. Max is a kid, and he’s known him since he was 8 years old. So they’re alone, and Daniel is this deep source of pain and rejection for Max, but he is the only one there to soothe it at all. Which is an extremely hard balance to strike for Daniel, especially since Max is his only company. His only refuge from the heartbreak of Daniel being. Daniel. You know