Jared & Natalia's Relationship (Jared & Friends)

Jared Robinson & Natalia Emmerson are best friends, parishioners at the same church, somewhat distaff counterparts, and love interests in the *Jared & Friends* franchise.

## Overview

Throughout the franchise, starting years prior to the first episode of the series, Jared has had a good relationship with Natalia, being one of his best friends from church and in general. He has shown to harbor an almost very big crush on her, which was revealed in her debut in the third season, but it is hinted in previous occasions (flashbacks, mostly) that he may have always liked her, possibly being his first crush. Natalia sees Jared as an adorable friend and one of his very best and always encourages him if he has a good idea and comforts him when he's heartbroken or sad. They begin to secretly go on dates, starting in the 2nd Valentine's Day special, but they became an official couple after Jared confesses her love to her at a weekend conference. It is shown Jared gets emotionally crushed or heartbroken when he loses Natalia or she gets taken away from him, something he fears the most more than anything, and he would do anything to get her back. It is also shown that whenever Jared is unhappy in any way, Natalia often goes to comfort him

Jared likes Natalia because she's creative, caring, sweet, bubbly, how she is dedicated to her work, and is always helping him when he's sad or crushed and always loves him for who he is. Natalia likes Jared because of his imagination, his bubbly personality, creativity, and how much he cares, as well as his ingenious inventiveness with his inventions. It's revealed Jared cares about her more that he loves his art, animation, and music and Natalia loves him more than her videography. During Season 4, they start to develop their relationship further and become better friends as time goes on. There is a (non-canon) Secret Files story arc that explains Jared's fear of losing her and how far he will go to get her back.

However, by late Season 4, everyone worries if they're rushing into a relationship, so they seem to feel that way too and find a choice to break up. Even though they did, there doesn't seem to be much tension between them as they decide to remain best friends and have an amicable relationship (yet there are still hints of the romantic feelings remaining intact). Sometimes they can clash due to notable differences in their personalities. Natalia quickly gets with Themba after the breakup (introducing their relationship to the main timeline, and sort of retconning the relationship events)

### Similarities

* They are both artists
* They are both imaginative & creative
* They both love to sing and dance
* They can both invent imaginary inventions (though Natalia still could use some work)
* They are both have a distaff counterpart other than themselves (e.g. Jared with Claire and Maddy, and Natalia is counterparts with Themba (or as Jared has stated))
* They both love music
* They both have partial feelings for someone else other than each other (Natalia with Themba (albeit non-canon), Jared with Sydney and (presumably still) Maddy)
* They both like and are skilled at making videos and editing them
* They both like purple and bright colors
* They both have a little brother
* They both are the oldest out of all the kids in their main family
* They both love swimming
* They both love adventures
* They are born on the same year
* They both tend to be a bit shy

### Differences

* Jared is a boy and Natalia is a girl
* They are born exactly six months apart (Natalia is born January, while Jared is born in June)
* They have somewhat a few opposite personality traits
* Jared lives with his mom and dad and brother, while Natalia only seems to live with her mom & little brother and sister
* Natalia is a little more dedicated to her work than Jared
* Jared is an imaginary psychic, while Natalia isn't
* Natalia has two siblings, while Jared has one
* Natalia is less impulsive and irritable than Jared

## Moments

* In Let's Go to Jamaica, when Jared and his family were discussing girls, Jared mentions the first person he can think of, which is Natalia, indicating that he has always liked her, which he doesn't deny automatically. He also smiles dreamily when he thinks of her and he breaks the fourth wall, denying it
* In To Natalia, My Love, they enjoy having fun at the drop in on Jared's first day there and Jared risks everything to save her in the Maddy-World and Natalia saves him from the witches. In the end, she kisses Jared's cheek after he gives her a gift, and they relax in front of the fireplace in the lair.
* In Jared and Sydney's Homecoming Adventure, Natalia helps Jared relieve his shyness and they have fun at the dance and they dance together, flirting briefly
* In Coolio Christmas, Tal compliments Jared's dad's singing and they play Mary & Joseph in the Nativity story. She also gives Jared a kiss under the mistletoe with Sydney
* In Valentine's Day Confusion Fusion, their relationship is a key element in the story. Jared worries about not getting a valentine, and he has his eyes on Natalia. A few days after Jared got the anonymous note, Natalia reveals she wrote and agrees to go on a date with him on Valentine's Day. During the date, Jared trusts Natalia with the secret of his love potion, In the end, after they dance together, Natalia (almost) reveals her liking for Jared and kisses him.
* In Conference Catastrophe, Natalia needs to know where she stands with Jared, but Jared is too scared to say that he loves her or he gets interrupted by something or someone. Tal then gets jealous when she thinks Jared is flirting with another girl. When all else fails, Jared finally reveals his feelings to Natalia and she does the same about him, saying that they love each other and share a kiss. In the end, on the way home, Jared pulls Natalia to him and kisses her and they sit on the bus together. In the end of the episode, they fall asleep, holding hands and smiling
* In the Trouble with Love, they have an arc of them becoming better friends to help develop their relationship better, but it is almost threatened by Sydney and the crush Jared has on her, so Jared confesses he likes Sydney but is in LOVE with Tal.
* In Let's Go to the Science Center, Natalia compliments Jared on his leadership with their group and they sit together on the school bus and in the IMAX movie
* In the Toxin & the Vape, Jared & Tal work together with their friends to stop Wicked & Harley's toxic ghost from controlling their friends and schoolmates and to stop vaping for good.
* In the feature film, Jared & Friends Too!: The Movie, they continue their arc they started when they first became official and we see them grow closer together as they race with their friends against Wicked and her cousin, Harley Quinn to the Tower of Power, and they succeed. They dance together in the end of the movie and share a passionate kiss.
* In the Season 4 premiere, Operation: Easter, Natalia compliments Jared's dad singing for the Easter service and affectionately suggests that he will be the next Robinson singing on stage at church, making Jared jump and blush. Natalia then bats his eyes at him.
* In Married, A marriage predictor test predicts Natalia and Jared are going to be married in the future and they have dreams with a vague idea of what would happen if they were married. In Jared's dream, they travel all over the world and expand their dream jobs with their 2 kids. In Natalia's dream, they flirt somewhat continuously from time to time and seem happy together. However, after Katie-Lynn says her predictor was wrong, Jared has a vision that he and Tal do get married in the future (Therefore leading into the events of the spin-off that takes place into the future).
* In Jared's First All-Nighter, Jared and Natalia dance together on the dance floor, Tal helps Jared clean up after a game, she compliments Jared on how he decorated his treasure box and she also gives Jared a kiss after he drifts to sleep in the morning and he smiles warmly.
* In Cool Rules for Jared, we really see how much Natalia cares for Jared, as she confesses that she loves the real Jared, the Jared God made. She tries hard to get Jared back to his old self and she succeeds by giving Jared a kiss (true love's kiss, works every time) after Jared gets sick of all the attention he gets.
* In Jared's Supertastic 16, Natalia first calls Jared to wish him a happy birthday and remind him of his bowling party, after that, Jared has a vision in which he foresees Natalia cutting the cake with him, which happens. Jared and his family even offers Natalia a ride home, where she kisses him goodnight as a special birthday present
* In Operation: Mega-Prom, Jared and Natalia work together with their friends to pimp the prom into a Mega-Prom and beat Evil Jared and the other evil clones. In the end, they dance together and share a kiss
* In Una vs. Uma, Jared flirtatiously compliments Natalia's Auradon, Isle, Pirate and Cotillion outfits and they show affection toward each other throughout the episode, as they also help Una. They even kiss and take down the pirates with their swords. They also dance together at the ball and hold hands as they go home at the end of the episode after Jared gives Una a copy of Ursula's necklace.
* In Themba's Big Surprise, They work together to set up Themba's big surprise birthday party (presumably in return to inviting them to his prom) and they enjoy laughing and talking affectionately with their friends and each other and they both sit around the fire and Jared gives Natalia a bite of his toasted marshmallow (which they will do in a later episode)
* In Holiday Special, at the Christmas Party, she sings Santa Baby and makes flirtatious advances at Jared in particular and Jared does the tango with her. This is one of the most prominent romantic moments they have after their break up and they might still have feelings for each other
* In Time for 2018, at church after the service, Jared gives up his locket and gives it to Natalia, who gratefully kisses him on the cheek

## Songs

As best friends/love interests, they have a few songs:

* Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti feat. Spearhead
* Best of Friends
* You're So Beautiful (90s Version) - Empire Cast feat. Terrence Howard
* Crazy in Love with You (Jared's Version)
* All My Life - K-Ci & JoJo
* Be Your Love - Bishop Briggs
* Dream on with You
* Shake Down - Mary J. Blige feat. Usher
* Kiss The Girl (Particularly the Descendants 2 Cast version)

## Trivia/Notes

* Their relationship is similar to *Jimmy Neutron* couples, Jimmy & Cindy and Sheen & Libby
* Their relationship also bears resemblance to Fred Jones & Daphne Blake from the *Scooby Doo* franchise, Tommy Pickles & Kimi Finster from the *Rugrats/All Grown Up* franchise, Lincoln & Ronnie Anne from T*he Loud House*, Latroy & Sloane from *The Next Step*, Kim & Ron from *Kim Possible*, Raven & Devon from the *That's So Raven* franchise & Sam & Danny from *Danny Phantom*
* In a non-canon story arc for Stories of the Secret Files spin-off series, it shows Jared's fear of losing her and how far he will go to retrieve her and involves a love triangle with them and their friend, Themba. Coincidentally, Jared states they're dating in real life, so he decided to write the story arc and decided to have it be written from his perspective of the situation and his feelings. However, the Jatalia component is kept in the franchise in the canon instalments, and according to Jared, it is written from what he thought what would happen ***IF*** Jared and Tal were actually going out/together. This was soon retconned to happen after the breakup Jared and Natalia had to introduce Themba and Tal's relationship into the main timeline (it was mentioned at one point in an episode)
* It's revealed that Natalia knows about Jared's rambunctious and irritable outbursts, and totally doesn't mind it sometimes
* In starting in Season 4, we see them becoming better friends, in order to help develop their relationship better and further, but the romantic element is kept intact, and go through a break-up but still remain in a amicable relationship.
* Sometimes, Jared denies liking Natalia
* It's revealed Jared has invented a portrait-changing locket with Tal's portrait to remind himself of his love for her and the friendship he has with her, as well as a picture of her on his bedside table with a similar-shaped frame. However, sometime after the breakup, it is said he ripped the photo and keep the remains close to him in a small box in his drawer in his bedroom (just in case). Whether he still has it in the current day is unknown.
	+ In the planned spinoff, *Jared & Friends: TNG**,* since he has married her and they're living happily ever after, he has remade the locker and had taped the picture(s) back together, even though the signs of deterioration still show, but Jared says this signifies we all have a broken heart, but with a little bit of love, hope, and determination, things will work out all right and even the most shattered heart and spirit can be mended. This locket is supposed to be featured in idea for an episode that would involve Tal and Jared resolving their break-up and getting back together and going off into the future after defeating the villains, a possible idea for the series finale (if there is one)
	+ The ripped photo locket also serves as a reference to Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie, when Helga had ripped up her locket photo of Arnold and then it's taped back together later on
* Jared's flashback to the day he and Natalia met hints that he may have always liked her or he was just being friendly, like he always does
* Natalia and Jared both used to have each other's pictures on their bedside table in a heart frame