Read the raws ig

I feel like people need to stop seeing the story through the shallow “Jo vs TJ” narrative and just read it.

I’ve been keeping up the raws and the reality behind TJ and Ian’s dynamic is a genuine mindfuck, not in a psychological thriller twist way, but definitely a disappointed “fuck” type of way when yk you were correct but the truth just keeps getting worse if that makes sense lol

It pulls out your guts because it’s the confirmation you didn’t want, or the Incendies “I get it” moment (this is a hyperbole). Maybe I’m hyping it up for nothing or maybe I was just too into the zone and I sound like some Colleen Hoover booktoker who’s foaming at the mouth from one sentence, but damn Wet Sand you’re too well written for me not to gag on it.

It drops the bomb on why their relationship has developed into this vague one-sided relationship and it’s extremely unfortunate. It's not declared outright but it’s quite bold you just can’t ignore it. I feel for both sides and why they’re so severely attached.

I’m about to say this as a person who read the raws half-asleep so like take this as an “idk tho” but I think it’s fair to say that Ian never looked at TJ in the way TJ looked at him, from the beginning, Ian understood that much to the point of looking the other way to maintain their familial relationship. I may be saying too much but I think Ian genuinely see’s TJ as a brother, every affection he had for him stemmed from this need for kinship or familial love, which he lacked as a younger kid. TJ on the other hand, loved him to another extent, it grew with him; and matured. It wasn’t simply fondness, it was more like yearning. I could write more about this but I won’t.

I want to talk about Ian’s drug addiction, and how that was the catalyst to his sense of normalcy between him and TJ, but I feel like that’d be too much word vomit, so I’ll wait until that chapter drops.