I'm Sorry Zach Had The Most Social Trauma Even Though He's A Caucasion Boy - Tumblr Posts

All my characters struggle with this.

Bella deals with it the best, but is scarred by toxic friends as she started to emerge from her shell, but constant support from her family and immediate friends negated the damage somewhat.

Freddie is too stubborn to be truly mistreated. If you dislike him, it's because you're jealous of his intelligence, or too stupid to comprehend his superiority. He is however, painfully independent. His parents distancing themselves made unconditional love and constant support a foreign concept to him, which causes him to somewhat verbally abuse his foster parents. The Perfect Family (in AUs where pre-canon is relevant) Vi and Aster work to undo the harm his parents did, which leads him to be a more compassionate and open person. He's still cynical and a bit of a jerk at times though.

Zach struggles a lot. He lost his mother at a young age, so he's been ridiculed at school for only having his father as a parent (and he did a very good job raising him) especially since his dad's a cop. He has a few endearing but childish habits, and is more cautious than boys his age, which led to him being teased to such an extent of distress on his end, he moved schools. True compassion, friendship and genuine care directed towards him from strangers or acquaintances is alien and fragile - he keeps a mask up, staying estranged from almost everyone, though it may not be apparent, to receive a fake version of kindness.

Bella's compassion toward him later on is going to throw him for a loop. She'll do her best to help Freddie, but she doesn't have the expertise, experience or resources to undo years of external and self social isolation.

A favorite character dynamic / story arc