one thing i am convinced about fabian is that he has a VERY complicated relationship with his own autonomy. he was raised as essentially an extension and copy of his father, who was the type of man who fiercely prized his independence. so fabian has to be both independent AND exactly like his father. he goes to school and realizes how out of his depth he is, as well as how poorly imitating his father will serve him. he makes friends with his party, who make it clear that his wealth/social status are not why they like him (and in fact are some of the things they like LEAST). at the end of his freshman year, his father dies. before doing so he apologizes to fabian for not realizing how different the two of them are, and for not allowing his son the space to be his own man. he then also expresses admiration for the person fabian has become. at his father's funeral, fabian's mother (now pursuing sobriety after a decade+ of alcoholism) meets and decides to pursue a relationship with one of his friend's fathers, over fabian's objections. she also is COMPLETELY unaware of any of fabian's personal development, and therefore doesn't step in when he pressures himself into emulating his father out of grief. other people have done a far better job than i could of explaining how fabian's experiences and leviathan and the nightmare king's forest would have affected his view of himself as an autonomous person, and same for his life in junior year (where he got thrown in the deep end of keeping house, when he had NO experience in doing, or knowledge of who to ask or where to look to find out how to look after himself).
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