Brylan

Brylan is the het ship between Brenda and Dylan from the Beverly Hills, 90210 fandom.

Canon
Brenda and Dylan meet through Dylan's friendship with her twin brother, Brandon, although Brenda already knows of the infamous high school legend Dylan McKay. He's a rich loner kid whose parents neglect him, and also the most coveted and popular guy in Beverly Hills. Brenda, the new kid from the midwest, is attracted and curious about him like everyone else, and maybe has a bit of 'will he notice "little old me"' syndrome because of her new fast-paced, glitzy surroundings where others' fame and fortune is a different world from hers. Brenda's best friend, Kelly, attempts to flirt, granting Brenda and Dylan their official introduction, but Dylan has only eyes for Brenda. Misunderstanding his rejection of Kelly's advances, Brenda wants to dye her hair blonde to catch his eye, but it goes horribly awry. Despite her orange fritz, Dylan keeps flirting with her, indicating to her that he's not superficial. Dylan offers to take her to a salon, which Brenda happily takes him up on, flirting back. She hops on the back of his motorcycle after an awkward Freudian slip, which he finds flattering.

They continue to flirt while Dylan hangs out with Brandon at the Walsh house. Brenda accidentally walks in on a naked Dylan borrowing the shower and he invites Brenda along on his hangout with Brandon. They see a film and hang out at Dylan's suite listening to music. Brenda goes solo on a planned hangout with Dylan when Brandon gets sick and it becomes their first date. They go back to the hotel where Dylan lives, holding hands, but Dylan's father is there and they get into a fight, when Brenda left downstairs. Dylan comes down and flies over to have a drink, with Brenda telling him off as he's her ride. He wants to leave and exits in a flurry. Brenda tries to get back to their date, but it's clear he's too upset. She tries to talk to him about what happened, but he's yelling and she wants to leave. He doesn't want her to leave and, still yelling, he picks up a flower vase and throws it to the ground. Brenda is startled and runs away, with Dylan running after her. He envelops her in a hug, tearfully apologising and Brenda cries, saying he's scaring her. Dylan sits on the flower bed. She asks him what happened and his voice cracks as he tells her his Dad is awful. He collapses into tears in her arms and she holds him tight, comforting him.

They break apart and share an intense look. Dylan leans in and kisses her. When they get home, he apologises again for his outburst and she assures him she's forgiven it. They flirt and kiss before Brenda goes inside. At school, they're playfully tussling, kissing and holding hands for all to see. Brenda's father and brother are not happy with the situation, but her mother is supportive. Brenda excitedly gets ready for another date, but ends up waiting in vain for Dylan to show. Brandon confronts Dylan at school, telling him off for making his sister cry. Dylan's evasive and doesn't give a reason for his behaviour. He later shows up at the house to apologise to Brenda, who couldn't go to school she was so upset. Brenda tells him off, but he tells her what happened; that his father fled the country and they didn't tell him that she called. They make up and make out on the couch. Brenda is later honest with Dylan about her worries about being safe if they sleep together and he tells her he appreciates that about her and that he will get tested for himself.

They start dating and have an intense, sweet and supportive relationship. After a few months, Dylan wants to have sex but Brenda's not sure she's ready. They plan to get a hotel in Palm Springs, but Brenda can't find the right one and ends up staying the night in a cupboard. When she does find him, he's reconnected with 'an old friend'. She gets jealous, throws the girl out and insists they have sex, though Dylan assures her nothing happened. Brenda is upset and they go to where their friends are staying, get a little love perspective from David's grandparents, and eventually make up. Dylan gets jealous about the bellboy who helped Brenda and they are back to their flirty selves. Brenda has a hard time dealing with a scare when she thinks she has a lump in her breast, but Dylan is there for her throughout and she turns out to be fine. They go to the Spring Fling together and have sex for the first time in a hotel room there. Brenda is overjoyed at having experienced her first time with him, and they're both happy to have started this stage of their relationship. They're upset at the thought of being separated when it looks like the Walshes are moving back to Minnesota. Brenda breaks up with Dylan to spare herself the pain of long-distance, but at the last minute her father decides to stay. Brenda and Dylan are so relieved to get to stay together, but Brenda confides in him that she's late.

Fanon
Brylan was the most popular ship of the show, and part of what made the show successful. Fandom from that time is generally in two factions: one that flames with a fiery passion over the love triangle with Kelly, and another that disliked the triangle but isn't nearly as aggressively angry about it. Overall the show is a bit odd in that it changes tone/characterisation starkly a number of times due to rotating showrunners. As a result, most shippers feel that the character of Dylan changed drastically from seasons 1-2, to what he became in seasons 3-4 while Brenda was still on the show. He went from being introverted, grounded despite his fortune, and empathetic, to being into being rich, self-absorbed and flakey. Some of his original characteristics still shone through in Brenda and Dylan's interactions in season 3 and 4, post break-up. To this day there are flame wars about the love triangle, especially given that Brenda was on the show for 4 seasons and so Dylan/Kelly storylines were part of the show much longer by default. Despite this, Brylan is still the most popular of the two by a decent margin.

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