Ollie and Liv are energetic and optimistic neets who live with their moms.
Basile, their neighbor and occasionally co-worker, teacher, or friend, is an arrogant, ill-tempered octopus who lives in a barren apartment.
My stories about these characters exist through many different timelines. One story about their high school forms may conclude with a solid ending, and another comic may start with them in a college setting, or as cavemen, or as weiner dogs.
But no matter what universe they exist in or what they look like, it's usually just the yung n dumb Ollie and Liv tormenting grumpy old Basile...with FUN!
Ollie and Liv are one and the same. They look the same, act the same, and have no hopes or dreams. The highlight of their short, pathetic lives was becoming enamoured with their buddy Mr. S, because he's the most interesting thing they've ever seen.
tl;dr: Basile does not reciprocate Ollie's affection. Basile may look down at Ollie with disdain, eventually grow to care for him, but he does not love Ollie in any romantic manner.
Basile is a shitty pretentious French absurdist who thinks nothing has meaning, so we should all lay down and die to the gentle indifference of the world. A Doomer. "See you all in hell", but paradoxically gets steamed and emotional over those same things he calls meaningless. Ollie's just tryna live his shitty crappy lower-class life and he dun get pretentious philosophy. Ollie gives meaning to everything, even when he got no friends and no one goes to his bday party. He's tryna make the best of it. Keep waddling through that gentle indifference.
Ollie wants to say thanks, but he's too emotionally stunted to be able to say so verbally. So he showers Basile in gifts he's been taught you give a gorl (from media), pink champagne and flowers. It's too much, overstepping boundaries, it's not what Basile actually wants.
Ollie wants to give him as much as he can, from what means he has. He doesn't think he himself is anything special, so all he can give is physical. But he doesn't feel inadequate, he has that bullheaded train of thought where he ignores his inadequacies and keeps truckin'. It's mimicry of what he thinks he should behave like, cuz he's so easily influenced (whether it's by media or peers). Dat's where the Straight Boy Texts tendencies come from. A very desperate longing to be percieved as a GROWN MAN compounded by (social) isolation and whacked out cuz there's one dude in Basile who kinda sorta pays attention to him.
They hang out together a lot outside of school, always at Ollie's insistence and despite Basile's protests. Ollie wants to wine n' dine Basile, or sleepover at Basile's apartment, or invite Basile over for movies and popcorn. Basile either refuses or begrudgingly goes along. There is always tension between them. This is not to say that Basile completely dislikes Ollie or their time together. Both their lives are lonely, and both of them desire companionship. Basile's feelings range from mere annoyance, to anxiety about violating boundaries, and it all comes from him wanting to keep their relationship in a specific platonic zone. Ollie constantly violates these boundaries because he doesn't understand why there needs to be one.
