HELLO KIARAFIA ACTUAL LOVE TRIANGLE? IM LISTENING 👁👁 - @rafescolors
i’ve been kicking this around in my head ever since i read those fan theories/rumors/whatever about a kiara-rafe-sofia love “triangle” because i have a fic brain. welcome to my latest “hear me out”—
the kiarafia love triangle ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ⋆˙⟡
(btw this isn’t a season 5 pitch or anything, this is just a vibes-based idea for these three to become… entangled. have fun with it)
the obvious place to start imo is with rafe. being torn between these two girls is symbolic of his two choices for handling his past and mental health; he could go with sofia, who knows nothing of what he’s done. he’s convinced her that he is normal and will be able to reap the benefits of such. a beautiful wife, a happy family, a nice house on a rich island. it’s a chance at a restart with the drawback of having to live a lie. rafe is not stable with sofia, and this isn’t her fault. she is literally unaware of her partner’s issues and can’t help him because he thinks it’s necessary to keep her. perhaps it’s the price he pays for that normality.
the alternative, of course, is facing what he’s done and working through it. kiara knows about his past. his rage, his violence, his attempted murders and the successful one. he can’t hide from her, he can’t lie and manipulate her into believing he’s normal. so if he wants kiara, he’ll have to accept his mistakes (something he has never done) and work to atone for them. what that exactly means, i don’t know, but kiara isn’t gonna fuck around and let him get away with his rap sheet. she’s known him for a long time, and i think she would force him into becoming the man he’s capable of if he takes accountability. it won’t be easy, but then again, neither is living a lie for the rest of your life. obviously he could ultimately do neither and continue to spiral but god where’s the fun in that…?
it’s much more lighthearted from sofia’s perspective lol. her naivety about rafe means that, as far as she knows, she’s dating a wealthy, charming man who can be a little flighty and dismissive. he struggles with feelings of inadequacy in their community and has a lot to learn before he becomes the acuminous business mogul he dreams of being, but is otherwise kind and gentle with her. enticing!
now you’re like, well? sofia and kiara? what about that? and listen 🙄 it is not my fault that 1) there are ZERO confirmed lgbt characters in the entire show and 2) sofia never interacts with a woman her own age. so i’m filling in gaps here as i please. take it up with the pates
when i read that fan theory that put rafe at the center of kie and sofia, i had this intense vision of sofia meeting this gorgeous, funny, intelligent woman that she’s never met before because she’s usually slumming around with some dumbass guys in the cut, and sofia realizing that maybe the world isn’t supposed to be in n64 graphics and kiara is like putting on glasses for the first time. maybe the little sparks she’s felt with girls in the past were more than that…
that’s right bitches. i’m force-bisexualizing sofia from outer banks. i mean, i do it already to kiara, and several other characters, but i digress. kie knows who she is, and i could see her also being instantly drawn to sofia. she’s adorable! she clearly has a big heart. but i also see this additional layer where kiara knows rafe, and if she encountered him with this cartoon lamb in his holster, she’d want to snatch her away and take this sweetheart to a new world. kiara is still technically kook— there isn’t much they couldn’t do together.
my pitch with kiarafe is more loaded, because i have always leaned on the breadcrumbs they give us that they have a history. i don’t like to point to it like solid evidence because i think it was just an off-handed detail added to give depth to kiara’s kook past, but it did leave a door ajar that leads to so much potential. i say this because i think kiara has a personal reason to want to help rafe, even though he has done significant harm to her and her friends. it’s not that she feels it’s her fault or responsibility— she absolutely holds rafe accountable for what he’s done. but i think she truly wants to see him become the good guy she used to know, for reasons other than “stopping the evil at its source”. if you wanted to get super reductive, her role in the triangle is “do i save one corner from the other, or do i save the person i love from hurting anyone else again?”
now wouldn’t that make for captivating programming? too bad we only have one fucking season left
