Plenty has already been said about the racist overtones in a lot of the bloodymary fan art/fan fiction out there, and I definitely see it with the weird overemphasis on Ryan's aryan features and depictions of Simon literally deifying his white savior. Nothing I can add really that hasn't already been said.
BUT I think more should be said about the power dynamic that people tend to put in the fan fiction, of Simon being extremely traumatized and also completely dependent on Grace as the only human there in completely unfamiliar territory from which he literally can't escape. Add to that how they always have Grace regulated and in control, talking like a kind teacher or therapist to Simon who is so dysregulated and traumatized that it puts him into a very regressive state, and with Simon dependent of Grace for food, medical care, shelter, literally everything, it makes it very hard to see the possibility for consent.
I know people write about what they like and that's what fan fiction is for, but I'm seeing this as such a ubiquitous pattern that I think we should be looking harder at how we write their situation and think about how we can level the playing field.
Some examples for how we could do that:
>Grace also loses it occasionally, so it's not constantly like he's the sane one in control who always takes care of Simon. He's traumatized too, and he's not perfect at controlling his anger either. Let Simon co-regulate Grace too!
>Simon has skills. Give him ways to be useful, so that Grace and Simon depend on each other rather than Simon constantly depending on Grace. Maybe Simon is great at fixing stuff! Maybe he's so used to subsisting off tiny amounts of piss-quality food that he has an intuitive skill for figuring out how to make their crappy food taste better. Maybe not being a scientist gives him a different perspective on things and sometimes he comes up with a obvious, pragmatic solution that Grace didn't think of.
>Maybe instead of seeing Grace as an "angel", he sees him as a small animal that needs protection. Grace is touch-starved and food-starved and sleep-starved, maybe this brings out a protective instinct in Simon who quickly sees he's not a threat because he's clearly a wide-eyed puppy who just wants a new friend so badly. Maybe he lets Grace take care of him when really he's taking care of Grace, like pretending to be uncomfortable sleeping alone so that Grace will finally rest, or making Grace eat first to prove it's not poisoned when really he just knows Grace isn't eating enough.
>Make Grace clumsier! Not just physically, but in words and social skills too. I see too much of Grace playing the role of patient teacher and counselor while Simon is written like an abused animal backed into a corner. Let Grace be more flawed, make more mistakes, not always know the right thing to say because he doesn't know Simon's complex trauma and he's not even the best at interactions with simple work colleagues. Instead of Simon learning to trust him because he's always kind and gentle, have Simon learn to trust him because Grace is so damn awkward and guileless that it's obvious he doesn't have an ulterior motive. Have Simon learn to trust him because he sees himself in Grace's impatient outbursts and trauma responses, and that's something Simon can understand better than sharing and kindness with nothing expected in return.
