do you think that rafe actually does try to do better or be better for reader?
it’s canon that rafe is clean from drugs in the later seasons so eventually he’ll get better at that, but as far as the abuse goes not really. even if it’s not physical, he knows that reader’s fear is keeping her with him. rafe and reader do love each other but she is also afraid for her life/what rafe will do and rafe takes advantage of that at every opportunity.
frankly he’s going to get worse the longer they’re together.
“the chance that he would ever stop being a terrible person was minimal. it had to run in his dna–maybe it skipped sarah and wheezie, but the trait definitely passed from ward unto his son”
so does this mean that reader likes sara and wheezie (also is it a mutually feeling) and that she doesn’t like ward? (the feelings aren’t mutual?)
reader doesn’t like ward because of the way he treats rafe. ward is very nice to reader and almost treats her like a daughter, but knowing how he treats her boyfriend, she doesn’t really reciprocate the feeling.
wheezie likes reader and doesn’t know how rafe treats her because both rafe and reader try to hide it from her. reader and wheezie have a little sister/big sister like relationship.
sarah knows how rafe treats her because she’s seen/heard it and sierra, reader’s sister, has told her about the things she’s heard as well. reader and sarah are friendly but not friends—reader doesn’t want to upset rafe and sarah would rather keep her distance from anything having to do with her brother.
i remember rafe saying that he thinks that his dad likes reader more than his own son(rafe). So why is that and how does Ward treat or view her? ugh i’d just love to see reader interact with more characters so we could understand the dynamics here. i wonder so much what is her relationship like with ward or even sara? Especially bc we know that rafe talks about them(his family) to her but at the same time we also know that she’s cool with John B and Kiara so her and sara must interact with each other at some point, right? Does reader and sara like each other?
we all know rafe and ward have a pretty streaming relationship, so i think ward likes a lot of people more than rafe. in this case, ward thinks that reader is a very smart and sweet girl, and also the complete opposite of rafe. even though she’s a good influence on him, he doesn’t think his son deserves someone like her and thinks she should get out while she can. however, rafe is still his son and he will do anything to protect him, even if it’s detrimental to reader.
rafe is very controlling of reader’s social life, so she doesn’t have friends that he doesn’t approve of. she knows kiara because their parents are friends and sierra, her little sister, is friends with the pogues. rafe barely tolerates her being around kie, so her hanging out with the other pogues is completely out of the question. it’s why rafe gets so mad about her going to the cut.
he keeps her very isolated so that people don’t influence her into leaving or try helping her leave him.
reader isn’t friends with the pogues, her little sister is and she just has to be there to supervise because her parents don’t want her going on crazy escapades or getting into trouble. she’s cool with them, but they’re younger than her and rafe would also kill her if she tried actually being friends with them.
sarah and reader are cordial but don’t have much of a relationship because reader is older than sarah and they don’t run in the same group. this timeline takes place from mid obx1-obx2, so sarah hasn’t gone fully pogue yet. sarah thinks reader is too good for rafe and also kind of stupid for being with her brother, so rafe doesn’t like her being around reader.
would hssh!rafe be into the whole tattooing your partner’s name thing? idk if he’d do reader’s name on himself or have his name on reader but esp with the thing of him having reader wear a necklace with his name i’m sure he’s into the “branding” or loyalty aspect to it.
i don’t think rafe would be into tattoos on reader at all just because he doesn’t want her skin to be “tainted.” being from north carolina myself, rich people/southerners aren’t really into the tattoos/piercing thing and they’re really judgy about it lol. he also knows she would never do that so
rafe likes the act of putting his name around her neck because it’s almost as if he’s collaring her. he has to put it on her or she has to put it on herself, but either way it’s her submitting herself to him in a way and letting him “own” her.
ooo okay so is there anything/anyone that you believe to be hssh!reader coded? like anything that reminds you of her?
i might have already said this before but i think maddy from euphoria is a lot like hssh!reader in the way that they handle their relationships. aesthetically i think reader is very blythe doll coded
does rafe hold himself to the same standard that he holds reader to? we’ve seen him get up and rowdy abt how reader acts and what she does but does he have that same standard for himself in their relationship? if he doesn’t then i could see that being an argument between them where Rafes being a hypocrite for getting mad reader for something he also does
well rafe is borderline misogynistic and believes she shouldn’t even be going to school or working so obviously he has a lot of double standards. he does want to be a “better” man for reader which is why he’s trying to get sober and why he wants to take over his dad’s business(canonically). there’s plenty of things rafe does that he would freak out about if reader did it, such as going to the cut alone. reader can argue about it all she wants, but rafe doesn’t care because he’s the one with the power and she’s supposed to listen to him.
rafe’s dream is kinda the nuclear family model with a perfect trophy wife that does whatever he tells her to do. he wouldn’t ever cheat on her, though.
how would reader react if anyone told her to her face that she deserves better than rafe? we know that fear isn’t the only thing keeping her from being with him although it does play a part ( based on the last chapter) i remember this clip from euphoria where maddy was getting told to her face about nate and she got feisty about it, do you think reader world react the same?
hssh reader is very aware of her situation and wouldn’t disagree if someone told her that she deserves better to be completely honest.
rafe is her first ever relationship, she doesn’t know anything other than him. she loves and fears rafe, not only what he’ll do to her but also what he’ll do to himself if she ever left him. reader is aware that rafe isn’t stable and she would feel an immense amount of guilt leaving him—she thinks that he needs her and that he’ll get worse without her.
they’re a lot like nate and maddie relationship-wise, but really as individuals. reader is a lot more docile and self-aware of her situation than maddie was, so she wouldn’t lash out about rafe being talked about because she knows they’re probably right.
