#now lets talk about jeremy/nicky parallels!

[youdontknowhowtodiequietly]

@aurisartblog (it won't let me tag you??? for some reason???) i saw you asking for elaboration in the comments but idk how long my response would be and i despise typing under comments (it's just so squished - don't ask) so here ya go!

TW! Spoilers for TGR (I will only be talking about things I picked up in this book because I did not annotate TSC), mentions of SA, because, of course there is, it's these two.

To start off with: Jean is so aggressively loyal.

BUT

His aggression and violence is controlled. Idk if you saw the post someone made about Andrew never being out of control, even when others think he is, and I 100% stand by that and it's the same thing with Jean. We all saw how controlled he has been with everything - the game, practices, when ppl piss him off in general - but when it comes time where that aggression is needed to protect his people, it comes out in a measured dose that doesn't intend to seriously harm, but to get someone to back down. Like how a dog will give you a nip, or a cat will swat at you, to get you to back off? Yeah, like that.

Which leads me onto the dog thing.

Now, we're all aware of how Andrew is referred to as Kevin's guard dog, or something of the likes, with the leash and other metaphors. Well, Jean's is not so outwardly named, but he does display dog-like behaviours - especially an obedient one, even if that obedience has been abused into him.

For example, on page 13/14 (Kindle): "As usual, Jean finished first and went to wait on the bench near Jeremy’s locker." Tell me that is not a dog waiting obediently for its "owner" (not saying at all that Jeremy owns him, he does not, but Kevin did not own Andrew, so...) And going back to the whole control thing? If Jeremy said "bite", Jean would. It is Jeremy (and Rhemann, and his contract, but mainly Jeremy and Jean's fear of disappointing him) that keeps Jean at bay (most of the time - technically with Bryson Jeremy didn't say "go" but he also didn't put up much of a protest. I'm sure if Jeremy had been more confident and less afraid of his brother, he could have stopped Jean. But also, sometimes a guard dog will bite even if it isn't told to if it's owner(s) are in danger, and Jeremy and Laila were).

Another quote, which kind of made me really think "hmm, this guy is kind of a parallel to Andrew!" is one quote on page 335: "It makes you more interesting" after Jeremy insults the Bobcats. And quote on page 226 "Stop looking at me like that." (though I didn't realise how Andrew-like it was until I started writing this) are both almost exact copies of what Andrew has said - I think Andrew says "Interesting" to Neil once in the first trilogy? But I haven't read the books in yonks.

Also, just, the poker faces (though Jean's is less "I'm bored" and more, "I could not care less about anything going on"), how they're both so accepting yet filled with rage at what has happened to them (e.g., page 350 "I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Then why did he want to scream until his throat bled?").

The fact that they are both victims of rape, yet believe that they would never get a true prosecution for their abusers (I'm sure that's why Andrew never spoke out, not just because he was trying to move on, but he knows how low the rates are of rapists getting prosecuted for women, and he no doubt made the connection that it would be even less between two men, even if it was CSA), and Jean doesn't really express this but I'm sure it's a thought.

And I don't doubt Andrew struggled to come to terms with his sexuality after everything that happened to him, and though it isn't the same as what happened to Jean, his struggle with his own attraction is similar.

If we were to get a POV of Andrew, and I were to read TSC again, I would probably be able to make more comparisons.

I hope you enjoyed anyways, and feel free to add to this if you wanna (anyone, btw, not just the person I tagged and am replying to) and sorry if it's a little incoherent, most of my posts usually are lmao.

everyone talks about the parallels between jean and neil, the misplaced forever partners, but no one talks about the parallels between jean and andrew

[marauders-bs]

kevin day is the sirius black of the aftg fandom but i fear some of you aren't ready for that conversation *essay incoming*

let me explain. sirius, at age fifteen, left his fourteen year old brother in a (likely physically and not just mentally) abusive household. he put himself above his brother, because he wouldn't have survived (mentally *or* physically) another year or even month in that place. in doing that, he left regulus and condemned him to life there. regulus likely grew to believe that he deserved it.

now, kevin. kevin left a 17 year old jean moreau at edgar allen, which was (and is) physically, mentally, physiologically, emotionally and sexually abusive. kevin put himself over someone who wasn't even an adult yet because if he had stayed, he would have died. in doing it, he condemned jean to life in that place. jean grew to believe that he deserved everything he was given.

this goes especially hard if you believe that kevin gave jean the chance to go with him. kevin was not at fault for leaving jean- he did what he had to do to survive, just like renee, andrew, aaron, and neil (and probably jeremy). jean is doing his best and healing.

this entire essay is to introduce you to the belief that the *only* difference between jean yves moreau and regulus arcturus black is that one found a good friend group full of people intent on helping him heal (jeremy, cat, laila) and one found people who understood him (barty, evan, narcissa). both lost biological siblings (sirius, elodie) and both lost *forever partners* (pandora, kevin).

kevin and sirius are intense parallels as well. on one hand, you have someone who managed to save their person, and one who didn't. both found *questionable* friend groups (marlene, james, peter, remus) (aaron, nicky, neil, andrew, robin) and both found parental figures after years with bad ones (wymack & abby, effie & monty).

also, if kevin is going to try and mend his relationship with jean while jean is trying not to get violent flashback from being in the same room as him, tgr is going to kill me from black brothers parallels alone.

thank you for coming to my ted talk. please ask me questions about this.