Having chosen to use my allistic mind in the most autistic way possible, I have spent countless hours watching these streams and analyzing Jake and Hazel/Aaron’s relationship, trying to figure out what exactly he’s getting from Jake, and the final results are in: they like each other. They genuinely enjoy each other’s company. This is the bottom line.
Why do they enjoy each other's company? I'm glad you asked, because again, apparently I have given myself autism and this is my special interest and I'm going to start flapping because I get to let loose.
The first and biggest reason that Jake and Aaron get along is because the SecretGamerGrrl of twitch is nothing like the SecretGamerGrrl of twitter. Twitter Jake can spend a good four hours sputtering out a truly outrageous sheng, but there is no sign of whatever topic had him foaming unbelievable rhetoric at the mouth minutes before. If I didn't know this was Jake Alley's stream, there would be no reason to connect him with Twitter Jake. Twitter Jake is hysterical, dogmatic, bursting with buzzwords, has barely any time for anything but incomprehensible politics. Twitch Jake is a run of the mill autistic, undersocialized NEET with decent gaming skills and barely any social skills. Trying to make sense of Twitter Jake having a friendship with anyone is impossible, but Aaron doesn't hang out with Twitter Jake. These streams to an unaware eye would simply be two soyboys fucking around making mediocre streams for their tiny social group. That's it.
Second: Aaron is too Canadian for Jake to notice when Aaron’s trying to shut him down, and he probably writes a lot of Jake’s rudeness off on him being American. Jake constantly interrupts, is not receptive to Aaron saying he would like to go, is not terribly responsive to Aaron's attempts at jokes, and basically just comes off like a rude dumbass. Aaron just takes it, which brings us to point three.
Third: If you read through
Aaron's short thread, they have been friends a long time. I speculate that Aaron's suicidal, self-obsessed rants have been part of the blueprint Jake uses in his own. He was consistently responsive & caring for Aaron during these social media tantrums. This is where their friendship began. It also goes to show how separated all of Jake's states are & what a jackass he is that he's been able to consistently claim he has no friends & is all alone when there's been multiple discussions during the stream of games they've spent 100+ hours together playing.
Fourth: Jake & Aaron's lifestyles are compatible & their schedules are both free. Just a simple and obvious one. They both have nothing but free time, the desire to generate self-importance "critiquing" (complaining about) video games, unfinished projects that will never get done because of mental or physical health complaints, and no real hopes or dreams in life except to sit around being supported by outside forces (whether mommy or canadian disability) & play video games.
Fifth and most controversal: At this point I do think it's likely that Jake is a highly repressed self-hating homosexual. Mother obsession/overbearing mother, highly fastidious about hygiene & safety (certainly in an autistic way but also a gay way), arrested development sexual development projected onto bizarre "asexual" fetishes, apathy towards females/homosocial, extreme body hatred (consistently referring to pictures of himself as "some random fat guy." Jake, that is YOU), lives in complete denial of his reality: all of these are the mark of a gay man who will never come out of the closet in any meaningful way and will most likely, as he says he will, die a virgin.
If you have spent any amount of time around gay men, there is a dynamic in which a very gay guy will be drawn to closet cases & vice versa. Aaron clearly has daddy issues, as many gay men do. There is something of this dynamic in their friendship, slightly complicated by their gender identities, but not as much as you'd think.
So there you have it.
One last interesting character note: in #26, Jake effusively thanks mrinsecure for gifting subs (after Aaron models how to express gratitude) and goes out of his way to compliment Aaron’s skill at fighting games, suggesting Jake is capable of not being a complete shit 24/7, as long as absolutely everything goes his way.
