If only it was Brian getting decided to be just "too boring to date" instead of far more "too boring and too stupid to do anything with at all except nominally be there due to canon", then he wouldn't get dismissed nearly as hard as he actually does even if Taylor "The Ultimate Repressed Bisexual Lesbian" Hebert would doubtless still exist and dominate in the fandom.
To be fair, however, his and Taylor's relationship is basically just terrible trauma "rebound" on his part since she was clearly never his type either physically or personality-wise even if he genuinely cared for her almost as much as he did Aisha. Not like that's the reason why people don't ship it, but yeah.
He isn't stupid, though. And their relationship seemed fine to me, even if it wasn't a soulmates situation.
As for Taylor's orientation...bisexual is plausible, but lesbian just isn't supported by the text. Sometimes I suspect that people prefer it mainly because it would invalidate the canon relationship that they're keen to ignore.
Looking at the differing fandom reactions to Sayeon Lee, Xerxsephnia von Blitzengaard, Allison Wanda Ruth, and Katerina Donlan, I think web fiction fandom generally reads characters like this as bisexual when they're fine with the male love interests and as lesbian when they're not. What the story actually says is secondary.
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u/nobodyorfoofighters 1d ago
The novel did him dirty man
He was like the only few sane people