#thank u anon for the question clearly i have been thinking abt griffin way too fucking much jfc

[kindlespark]

this is a bit of an odd question but do you believe there was something yaoi going on btwn sterling and griffin??😭😭 or something along those lines. i personally don’t know how i’d feel about it but maybe there’s some allusions to it i missed out on..either way, i like thinking about griffin’s life before everything so i want to know what you think their relationship was! (i asked bc i came across a discussion btwn you and another person on twitter about how their relationship radicalized griffin and i wanted to hear more of your thoughts on that if you liked..)

this is the funniest way to phrase this anon im dyinggggg ummmm yes and no? i don’t think they were ever together i just read griffin as bi and i think his friendship + betrayal with sterling can be read as a classic first unhealthy homoerotic obsession on griffin’s part. i enjoy dynamics like that a lot so this section in the book made my radar ping i was so ???!?!?!?!?!!?!!

i think griffin snapped out of wishing he could fit in faster than robin did but i think a part of him would’ve still been taken by sterling’s privilege and “princely” demeanour as he’s described in the book LOL. and i feel like him being enamoured with sterling when they first meet and then slowly realising how actually awful he was over the years would’ve played a part in griffin’s disillusionment of babel and just personally adds another interesting layer to griffin/his cohort’s dynamic to me. like im theorising but i feel like it makes sense that anthony wouldn’t have been fooled, while griffin’s proximity to whiteness and privilege afforded him rose-tinted glasses and equal footing with sterling for a while, similar to robin.

and sterling clearly…. “reciprocates” is a terrible word to use in this context but like he’s clearly just as haunted by griffin, if not even more so. like the shooting scene obviously, where he doesn’t give a shit if he dies as long as he takes griffin down with him, but also this bit when he first meets robin

and then when he can’t help himself from retreading his arguments with griffin during his interrogation , comparing them constantly + using the chinese metaphor of badgers from the same mound, etc. griffin reaches this point where imo sterling is a constant reminder of his faults and an awful and repeating obstacle to his goal of revolution, but still just an obstacle. whereas destroying griffin is sterling’s final goal. which i guess makes sterling bi in my head too but i care way less abt his racist ass so 😭 diversity loss this racist is bi etc etc

i think it’s fun and fitting if griffin was more obsessed (/pos) with sterling early in their relationship, while sterling grows more obsessed (/neg) with griffin towards the end. so like. yaoi is not the word i would use to describe the griffin sterling relationship but homoerotic definitely is 😭😭

(also bc i feel like i have to clarify sometimes, obviously sterling is horrendously repulsively racist and he and griffin’s dynamic is deeply unhealthy so this is not me “shipping” it as much as it is like. fleshing out griffin’s past and relationships in ways that i find interesting to his character.)