Tj and Ian lived somewhat peaceful lives as best friends before mr Jang basically sold Ian to David Kim. And yes he was forced, as you can see Tj's drink was spiked so they could separate them and david kim took ian with him and abused him with drugs ans sex too, probably. This is when Tj and Ians relationship starts taking hits, how can two kids with no one around to help ever recover from something like this. This is one of the main reason their relationship is so messed up.
no i think at this point this is where their relationship start to bloom; at least when they become more than friends. bcs their relationship is platonic until now and im gonna bet we are gonna see them getting physical for the first time next episode. i'd like to think after ian got drugged he become so messed up and it's a lot easier to find comfort in tj. and im guessing tj already had feelings for ian.
their relationship starts to become unhealthy after ian got out of prison i think. we know that ian has been wanting to get away from the gangster life. but in order to do that then he needs to get away from tj first and this is where tj refuses to let go, with the reason ian would get in danger if he's not with him. but we are all know tj just don't want to let him go.
forgot to add that another reason why their relationship might be toxic is i have a feeling tj is using the drug abuse ian had to keep ian with him. if tj did this i might like him a little less, tbfh but let's just see
is this the start of his drug addiction? it's bcs he was forced to do it? jesus christ....
the longer the author give us back story about these two, the longer i lean towards tj bcs they just know each other like that. like a puzzle piece, completing each other's hole. it's hard to not to root for them, despite their flaw and the toxicity