#Ace BL kinda

[absolutebl]

BL recs (from any country) that don't have any s*x scenes? I'm too ace to enjoy them at all. Happy ending preferred, angst v welcome:)

BLs Without Sex Scenes

Oof, this is a hard one. Is a dead fish kiss okay? I do have a heat sorting on the spreadsheet of doom, and there are some with no kissing at all, but a dead fish kiss is in most of the HEA ones.

BLs with No Kisses

21 Days Theory (Thailand, YouTube) - the only thing I didn't like about this pulp was the fact that they don't kiss, so... yeah, this is my first pick for you. Very YA first love angsty, fantastic queer rep and side characters. RECOMMENDED

My Esports Genius Brother (China, Gaga?) - it's hella odd censored bromance but enjoyable. No real angst tho.

HIStory My Hero (Taiwan, Viki) - basically a BL with no sex or kissing, but also body-swap so is it BL? I can't remember the end but I think it's happy?

Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan, ????) - this 2017 yaoi adaptation is a full on BL just no kissing at all. The source manga (I Hear the Sunspot) is a favorite of mine and the casting was decent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for you (but not in general). Grey only.

Love of Siam (Thailand, ????) ALL THE ANGST, I'm pretty sure the most they do is hug, I could be v wrong though because too sad for me to ever rewatch. Very formative to the Thai BL industry.

The Lover (BL cut) (Korea ????) sometimes you can find the BL cut on YT, it has slapstick comedic sexualized moments that are maybe a little homophobic (or something), no actual sex or kissing, but no angst at all. (Korea's working some shizz out with this early offering.)

Kabe Koji AKA Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru (Japan, Viki) - I watched this and I was excited about it before it aired, but I seem to have expunged it from my memory and kept no screen caps in annoyance, so that's all I got.

Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush (Korea, ????) - a crossdressing historical that flew utterly under the radar. I decided it just wasn't really BL, but it has BL aspects and it's kinda a little queer... or something. Grey only.

Evening Cafe (Thai pulp, YouTube) - No heat and no kisses, but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, that's the whole story.

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea, Viki) - Has no kissing and many people found it really good as @isisanna-blog reminded me, thank you). It certainly has ALL THE ANGST. (I did not like it at all, but I'm a terrible judge of this kind of BL.)

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan ???) - this is such a lovely show, very warm and comforting and slice of life. There is very little angst, they too old for that shit, but little to no sexual content either. It's very warm and loving. A safe extremely yet queer show - and oh boy do we not get many of those. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Censored Bromances

So No Kisses (TM) for the gays but the hets might do stuff I didn't pay attention to. All these from China. Some happy, most not.

The Untamed

Word of Honor

Guardian

SCI Mysteries

Stay With Me AKA Addicted 2.0 (I never watched this so there may be rough play)

Mr CEO Falling in Love With Me

The Fairy Fox

Youth in the Breeze

Precise Shot

Advance Bravely

His Cat AKA His Cat Boyfriend

The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao

The "Ghost Boyfriend" series

Past Youth

I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)

Recommended Shorts with no kisses, but cute & fun

The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube)

One Last Order (Korea, Gaga)

Love Advisor (Thailand, YouTube)

BLs with Dead Fish Kisses (maybe? only one, if any)

His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan ????) - (NOT His the movie) this one has all the angst you could want in your whole life. ALL OF IT. Japan wins at emo, it's their THING.

Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho (Japan ????) - there's sort of some bed tussling and implied sex but you could imagine them just being snuggles for the mains, the sides have dead fish kiss. In general there's some angst but not much. It's fluffy and great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bonus: overt ace representation for one of the side characters.

Meow Ears Up (Thailand Viki) - sides may kiss? I enjoyed this pulp especially at the start, the premise is fun. I think my biggest complaint was lack of kissing.

My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan Viki), a case could be made for a demi seme in this BL. So much frenetic angst around bisexual identity crisis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My Ride (Thailand Gaga) - my favorite Thai BL pulp the sides have a good kiss and the mains do kiss but it's v dead fish, not at all sexual, and it comes at the very end. Otherwise extremely chaste, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BL, queer and complex and engaging.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan ????) - This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. The only kiss is the one pictured above, v dead fish. Full review here.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea WeTV) - 12th Night goes BL in this cross dressing historical that ended up feeling like a Cinderfella fairy tale, lightly dramatic and utterly charming. Full review. There is one dead fishy kiss at the end but it's otherwise aggressively pure.

If you like this last style of KBL (with a kiss at the end being okay, I have quite a few more to recommend). Until 2022, most KBLs only had one dead fish kiss in them, so you are pretty safe with pre 2022 KBLs. They tend to be quite chaste and de-sexualized. Other good examples: Wish You, Light on Me.

That's all folx.

Some of the above I may be misremembering (since I don't rewatch this kind of BL and my memory is shit). And I may have forgotten some too, so I hope comments with jump in.

Others to consider:

(source)

#BLs for ace watchers #Ace BL kinda #bl recommendation #21 Days Theory #Thai BL #underappreciated BL #By me especially #My Esports Genius Brother #CHinese BL #censored bromance #HIStory My Hero #Taiwanese BL #Hidamari ga Kikoeru #Japanese BL #Silhouette of Your Voice AKA #Love of Siam #Fujimi Orchestra #Korean BL #Spring of Crush #Cherry Magic #meow ears up #Kieta Hatsukoi #My Ride the series #Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai #Nobleman Ryu's Wedding

[sureuncertainty]

i’m gonna get more aphobes in my askbox for this but going through the st/ranger th/ings tag really just makes me think more and more of that post that’s like ‘i’m begging you all to engage in fandom through literally any lens other than shipping’

#i just like... idk man it's just weird to me that allos look at media and that's always where they go towards #it reminds me of when i was hyperfixating on bl/y ma/nor and everyone was obsessed with dani and jamie (which valid they were the main #(focus of the show) but i could not find content or people willing to discuss the other aspects of it and so i just kinda lost touch of the #idk i do gotta say being aro/ace is very isolating and alienating in fandom #especially a show like st/ranger/ th//ings which is like.... ABOUT friendship and love in all forms #and no before anyone twists this i'm not saying that you can't have ships or that no fun is allowed #like engage with media however you want! i just want to also engage with it how I want! #and i want to engage with it in a way that's not at all focused on shipping or romance #and it's very difficult to do that in this fandom #and any fandom #win rambles

[redtsundere-writes]

Jinx | Sukuna Ryomen

mma fighter!sukuna ryomen x femalecoach!reader

Part 4. Our Fight.

Beginning. ← Previous | Next →

Spynosis: Sukuna is a world champion with anger issues. It's believed by many that he is untrainable. Yeah, you can't train him, but you can dominate him. Contents: Fighting. Sukuna being Sukuna. female reader being dom. Jinx AU (the BL, not the character from lol) Warnings: Cursed words. Sexual harassment. Smut. Physical violence. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. MNDI. +18. Word count: 4692 words. A/N: Hello, peeps! Long time no see. I just bought my first PC, so I can finally write without slamming my old laptop for it to work. This is a long one, so enjoy!

There was something about eating a simple cup of noodles in a hotel room after a tiring day of training. It was somewhat special and comforting, like a mother singing a lullaby before taking a nap. That cozy feeling of surviving another day of training before a big fight. Yuuji settled the kettle and prepared the cup of noodles in the small kitchen area of our hotel room. We bought them in a nearby corner store when we took our break from Sukuna’s training.

We slurped our feelings away and let our bodies melt away with the hot broth. I sighed as my back laid fully in the cuck chair that every hotel room has for some reason. Yuuji ate his noodles like he hadn't eaten in days. Our bodies ache for all the training, but we could finally relax in the small room. 

“He is going to fucking kill me one of these days,” I sighed before grabbing a mouthful of noodles. 

“Same. I don’t know how I have been able to keep up all these years,” Yuuji said with a weak smile. 

“Gojo told me you guys have trained since you were little, how was Sukuna back then?” I asked with curiosity, putting my feet up in the closest furniture piece to get more comfortable. 

“He was a menace. He is still a menace,” Yuuji giggled. “Our parents were so tired of his ratty and chaotic behavior that they sent him to a pediatrician. She told our parents that they had to find an activity for him to get his energy out. They tried everything. Mountain biking, climbing, dancing. He ended up liking kickboxing.”

“Damn. I feel bad for your parents.”

I could imagine a small Sukuna trying all of those different activities. Riding a dirt bike and acing every trick he could learn, even if that meant breaking a bone or two in the process. Being one of those kids who wants to try the hardest path on the climbing wall but falls over and over trying to prove himself he can do it. A smile appeared on my face when I pictured him trying ballet in a cute pink tutu. That would be adorable. 

“They are really proud of him. Except for that time when he slept with Choso’s fiancé, of course. Dad was really pissed at him, but Mom tried to defend him,” Yuuji remembered as if it was yesterday. 

“Your brother is still single?” I asked curious, trying not to be too obvious. 

“Yeah. He told me it was hard going back to dating when he has trust issues,” he answered. “Why do you ask?” 

“No reason. Just curious,” 

“Really? I thought you liked him.”  I coughed out the noodles from the shock. Maybe I was too obvious. Yuuji looked at me in shock. “Oh shit, you really like him. I was just joking.” I blushed immediately. I outed myself, just like that. 

“I mean… he is kinda cute,” I said as I fake like he wasn’t the big deal. 

“Maybe I can set you up on a date with him one of these days. What do you think?” Yuuji asked me. 

“If Choso is okay with that, that would be great,” I answered. I really didn’t want to bother him if he was still healing from his brother's betrayal.

The night rolled in Dubai. Little by little, the city was shutting down under the cloak of darkness with a vibrancy that rivaled the stars overhead. The skyline, a jagged silhouette against the ink-black sky, was a testament to human ingenuity and ambition. The air was balmy, the gentle breeze carrying the scent of the sea from the Persian Gulf, mingling with the exotic aromas of spices and perfumes that wafted from the open doorways of the bustling souks. 

A ping on my phone woke me up in the middle of the dark room. I grabbed it weakly to check what it was. The white screen flashed my eyes for a second, blinding me. My eyes blinked a couple of times to get used to the light. It was a message from Sukuna who was responsible for waking me up. 

Cocky Bastard: Come to my room. 

I looked at the time on my phone. 2:31 am. “This bitch…” I thought as I sat on the edge of the bed and slid my slippers in while yawning. I put my hair up in a ponytail and grabbed a hoodie to cover the fact that I was in pajamas. I was getting out of the room when my phone pinged again. 

Cocky Bastard: Now. 

“It better be important, or I’ll fucking kill you,” I thought as I typed angrily an answer. 

You: Omw. 

The hotel halls were an embodiment of luxury and tradition, where polished floors and golden lantern lights welcomed me into a clear path to Sukuna’s room at the other end of the hall. Ornate lanterns cast intricate shadows on walls adorned with rich tapestries and art, bridging ancient and modern worlds. The air, perfumed with jasmine and sandalwood, carried the blend of traditional Arabic melodies and contemporary tunes, adding to the ambiance.

A slam on the door woke my body up in a survival instinct. The sound of clicking heels against the marble floors were coming right to me. A beautiful and hot woman in a stunning red dress walked angrily past me while mumbling something to herself in Arabic. She was fuming. I wanted to help her, but I don’t think we spoke the same language. 

I got to the room and knocked on his door three times like a secret code. He yelled to get in from the other side, naturally, I followed his order. The elegant living room of the most expensive suite of the hotel welcomed me with open arms. I walked in to see Sukuna drinking some red wine in the hotel’s comfy bathrobe. 

“What the hell are you doing up at this time? You should be resting,” I scold him as I get to him. I tried to take the glass of wine out of his hands, but he pulled it away. Instead, he poured another glass for me. 

“I’ll get straight to the point. I am a little bit desperate, you see,” Sukuna scoffed as he pushed the glass of wine to me without looking. “I have a luck ritual before every fight, I have to have satisfying sex before the fight to win.” 

Oh, that's what it was… Was Sukuna really asking me to fuck with him? I was only his coach. I didn’t know he could see me with those eyes. Maybe he was really that desperate. The red wine was tempting me, I really needed alcohol in my system after hearing that. 

“So you want to fuck with me?” I asked bluntly. 

“‘Want’ is a strong word. If I wasn’t in this situation, I wouldn’t fuck you. You are not my type at all. I like petite girls I can easily break,” he scoffed. For some reason, that last comment made my blood boil. “It’s just to avoid my jinx. I won’t ask you to do it again.” 

I was about to suggest hiring a prostitute, but I remembered we were in a very conservative country. There were very strict laws against prostitution, so looking for one would be an impossible task. 

“Fine, I’ll do it,” I said as I grabbed the glass and stirred it to oxygen the maroon liquid. 

“That’s all the convincing I need to do?” He asked, a bit surprised. 

“At least that way, you won’t fuck another person’s fiancé.” Sukuna laughed, clearly offended. 

“Yuuji told you?… That bastard.” He smirked, not believing his little brother would tell on him with his own coach. 

“Yuuji told me about your jinx, so I believe you,” I said before gulping down the wine in one shot. “Since this is a one time thing, let’s get this done then.” I said before pushing him by the chest, cornering him back against the counter to kiss him. 

Our lips collided into a frenetic dance to show each other who was really in control. We tilt our heads to deepen the kiss and reach for our tongues. He bit my lower lip to pull me closer to his face. His hand reached for my scalp to pull my head closer by my hair. My sneaky fingers snaked around his neck and shoulders to grab the back of his pink hair to make him behave. We were two wild dogs whose owners were pulling on their leashes to control them. 

His big hands wrapped my waist to turn the tables. Sukuna pulled me up to make me sit on the cold kitchen counter. I grabbed him by the robe to keep him in place. Kissing Sukuna was like surviving in a thunderstorm. It was fierce and strong, but oddly warm once you get to the coldness. He grabbed me by my ass to pull my pelvis to his crotch. He was too damn good at this for his own good. I could feel my panties getting wet. 

“I didn’t know you were such a slut,” he moaned against my lips. I pulled away to slap him across his face. He smirked, surprised by the sudden act of violence. 

“I am sorry, did that hurt?” I asked in a fake innocent voice. 

“Oh… you’ll fucking regret that,” Sukuna spat as he tossed me over his shoulder and spanked my ass. I squealed and covered it as I could with my hands. “I am sorry, did that hurt?” He imitated me. I scoffed in shame. 

Sukuna took me to the sofa and tossed me in it. He quickly removed his bathrobe to expose himself to me. I took a quick scan of him. His fluffy pink hair was a mess with black hair poking underneath. His massive pecs were shaved and ready for tomorrow’s show. He had perfectly toned abs to die for, but what really surprised me was the star of tonight’s show, his massive thick cock. I was long and meaty, perfectly straight. With that cock, he could be a porn star. I couldn’t help but gulp with worried eyes. 

“Don’t be scared, it doesn’t bite,” he said while stroking his already hard cock. “Quick. Take off your clothes,” he demanded. 

“You are the one with the jinx, not me,” I barked, offended. “If you need to fuck me, show it.” He rolled his eyes and got close to me. 

“You are such an annoying brat.”

He unzipped my hoodie, took off my shirt, slid down my shorts and ripped my underwear off me. Sukuna didn’t want to waste any time on a meaningless task. Once my whole body was exposed to him, he manhandled me to make me bend over the couch. He gripped my thighs hard to shove his monstrosity in one back shot. I gasped for air. It was too big. I opened my ass so it could fit better in me. 

“Take your hands off there,” he spat as his hands grabbed both of my hands to put them behind my back. “I’ll have to teach you some fucking manners.”

That first thrust almost killed me. It was powerful and desperate. From the very beginning, he wanted to go all fucking in. I moaned every time he shoved his dick in my poor pussy, which wasn’t ready for a massacre. I opened my legs wider to give him better access. The slight pain was fading away with each thrust as my body was getting used to his stiff stick. 

“You are going to fucking kill me… ‘kuna…” I moaned in despair as my breasts and ass cheeks bounced in perfect synchrony. 

I was used to getting beat, punched and kicked, but this felt completely different. He was beating me to an addictive rhythm I could barely resist. The worst thing about it was that I didn’t want him to stop. His cock was hitting every inch of my intimacy so good that I just needed more. I felt full, but I could eat some dessert. 

“Fuck, you are taking me better than that hoe I hired,” he groaned as his hips were hitting my ass in deep strokes. 

“So, I wasn’t the first option…” I thought. I was a bit disappointed. I shouldn’t be. Sukuna was horrible enough to not want to fight another woman over him, but my competitive soul wasn’t happy with it. I knew I wasn’t a sexy bombshell, but I was pretty enough to be the first option. Shit, I was really offended. 

“Turn around,” Sukuna ordered as he pulled out of me to put me in another position.

When I turned, he freed me from his grip. This was my opportunity. I pushed him to make him sit down on the wood coffee table. He was clearly in shock. If he wanted to avoid his jinx, it would be under my conditions. One of those conditions was making him understand I am the top dog and not a simple bitch he could hire on a Tuesday. I grabbed him by his chin and pulled his face towards me. 

“Open wide,”  I demanded. 

“Why would I do that?” Sukuna argued with a smirk. I pulled his hair hard to make his chin face me. 

“I said ‘Open wide’,” I repeated myself, forcing him to open his mouth.

I was starting to get tired of his whining and his bullshit. He needed to learn some fucking manners. If this was the way I had to do it, fine. I’ll do it in my own way. Sukuna tried to close his mouth, but he was going to behave, like it or not. I spit directly on his tongue and closed his jaw. 

“That wasn’t that hard, wasn’t it?” I asked him with a smirk. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to be offended by it, but he low-key liked it. 

My hands pushed him so he could lay down against the coffee table. He tried to fight me to regain control, but I grabbed him by the wrists and pulled him further back so he could stay still. 

“Just fucking relax for once. I’ll do the dirty work from now on,” I whispered against his ear. My tongue flickered around his earlobe, just for the funsies. Sukuna retaliated and tried to fight me over, but when he saw that he was already under my claws, he stopped. 

My hips humped against his crotch, and his cock twitched against my pussy in excitement. I slid his dick on me slowly and pushed it deep. He wasn’t just handsome and had a fantastic physique, his dick was perfect as well. It was big and thick, but it wasn’t scandalous enough to be scared of it. He was the perfect man, too bad he had a shitty personality. No one was really perfect. 

My hips ride his cock without mercy. It felt like heaven and hell at the same time. His moans and grunts were a clear sign that I was doing a good job. I could feel he wanted to free himself to latch onto my body, but I was in charge tonight. I moved in slow circles, and he jerked his head back in satisfaction. He closed his eyes and his toes curled as I rode him like a real cowgirl. My breasts bounced, following the rhythm of my movements. Wet and squishy sounds with our moans filled the air, creating a perfect symphony of lust. 

His dick was pushing and rubbing every part of my insides. It was raw and rough. I was desperately getting myself dumb fuck with the new toy I just borrowed. I never felt more tired and alive at the same time. I haven't felt this way in a pretty long time. I had to make the most of it.  The coffee table was creaking with every hard bounce.

“F-Fuck… I am so close,” he moaned under his breath. 

“Do you want to cum in me, baby?” I asked him in an innocent tone. He nodded in response. I smirked and made a full stop. 

“What the fuck are you doing?!” He yelled at me with a slight blush on his cheeks. 

“You need to ask for it nicely,” I asked. Sukuna frowned. “Say ‘Please, mommy. I want to cum.’” I got close to his face as if I was about to kiss him. “Just once, and I’ll let you cum all over this warm and slutty pussy,” I offered. Sukuna looked away. He was actually thinking of it. It was either saying the magic phrase or jinxing his own fight. I only saw an easy answer. 

“Please, mommy…  I want to cum…” He whispered while blushing intensely. 

“I can’t hear you,” I said with a mischievous smile. Sukuna scoffed and bit his lower lip. He didn’t want to repeat himself. 

“Please, mommy. I want to cum so bad,” he repeated, avoiding eye contact.  

“Good boy,” I said before releasing his wrists. “Go crazy.”

He clasped his hands on my ass and made me ride him like I was just doing previously. He shook my hips up and down to ride him in a wilder rhythm, trying to compensate for the time we lost. The wood table was creaking and squeaking in pain. It didn’t take long for it to collapse, but that didn’t stop Sukuna. His hands continue bouncing my ass to his cock as he thrust against me. 

“Just like that ‘Kuna…” I begged as I arched my back towards him. My nipples were rubbing against his pecs with each rough move. My legs were barely resisting. My eyes were tearing up from the power his cock held over me. He spanked me a couple of times as a celebration that he gained control over me. He pulled my hair to the side as he grunted to the rhythm of his hips. 

“Sukuna!” I moaned as I drooled over his shoulder. The pressure and stiffness left so good inside of me. My tight pussy hugged his big cock every time he pushed it in. After a couple of wet strokes in, I felt it inside. His thick and warm milk inside of me. It was what I needed to reach the climax. His cum felt like that cup of noodles after training. 

“Shit…” we both moaned as we relaxed our bodies. 

I pulled slowly out of me and laid next to Sukuna on the broken coffee table. Our breathing and gasps filled the silence that always came with every climax. I came back to my senses after what happened. “I just fucked my trainee,” I thought as I closed my eyes, embarrassed. What have I done? I needed to go now. No one could find out. 

“Where’s the bathroom?” I asked in a shy tone as I picked my clothes up from the floor. Sukuna pointed in the direction as he kept lying down on the table. 

I ran to the bathroom and washed my face to fully wake up. I looked straight at my face in the mirror. The face of a slut. I gripped the zinc and sighed out loud. It was already done. I fucked him. It was a one time only thing. There was nothing I could do now. 

“Just live with it,” I said before putting my clothes back on. 

I exited the bathroom and looked for Sukuna to wish him a goodnight. I found him sleeping on the couch in just his bathrobe. “This dumbass will catch a cold,” I thought as I looked for something to cover him up. 

I went to the fancy master bedroom to just grab a decorative blanket. I was just going to grab the blanket and go off, but something caught my eye. There was a Polaroid photo on top of his night stand. It was a cute picture of a little trio. Sukuna, Choso and Yuuji as kids at what appears to be a kickboxing tournament. They were wearing their cute sporty outfits and smiling as they showed their participation medals with pride. I knew he looked adorable. 

Taking important photos everywhere is a habit only sensitive people have, like artists or musicians. I didn’t think Sukuna was the type of guy who kept memories like that. 

Why did Sukuna carry something like this? I thought he hated his brothers. What made him act so cold towards them? I didn’t know, and I couldn't get answers. I didn’t care about the old Sukuna, I just needed the present Sukuna to behave. I placed back the picture where I found it and went back to the living room. 

I placed the blanket on top of his massive body and moved around the cushions to make sure he would sleep well. His eyes shut, his chest going up and down from breathing and his fluffy messy hair was a delight to see. It was the first time I have seen him so relaxed. I wish I could see him more like this so he didn’t have to overwork himself. 

“Why do you have to be an ass to everyone who cares about you?” I thought out loud. 

The next day, under a starlit sky, the UFC Championship Night unfolded with electrifying intensity. The arena, alive with the roars of fans from across the globe who were watching live, set the stage for a night of unmatched athleticism and spirit. Fighters, embodying determination and skill, clashed in the octagon, their every move watched by an enraptured audience. 

Between bouts, the energy never waned, as performances dazzled and discussions flourished among the diverse crowd. The main event, a pinnacle of strategy and strength, held spectators in a spell, culminating in a moment of pure triumph and emotion. As the night waned, the echoes of the event lingered, leaving behind memories of a spectacular evening where sport and spectacle had intertwined beautifully in Dubai.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the event that everyone was waiting for! Give it up for Sukuna “The King of the Ring” Ryomen!” The host welcomed him and his team to the big stage. 

The Search by NF started playing as his anthem. His fans went crazy as he made his great appearance. He flexed his boxing skills with a couple of ghost jabs to warm up to the adrenaline rush of what being on the octagon meant. He looked focused and ready. I knew he was ready. I was confident he could beat Toji. 

After last night, he ignored me the whole day. In the morning run, he avoided me. In the warm-up session, he didn’t even look at me. I didn’t know what I did wrong to deserve his cold treatment, but he followed the schedule I made, so I didn’t have any grounds to be mad at him. My legs could be weak, but my pride was strong. 

After the medical and cheating check up by the referee, he got up on stage. Gojo, Nanami, Yuuji and I put ourselves by his designated corner, ready with our supplies for each round. 

Toji and his staff made their own great entrance, and he got up to the octagon as well. The referee made them get close to recite the rules so they could bump gloves. After that, the real show was about to start. 

“This is a no-blinking fight, everyone!” The commentator announced, and the public went crazy as the two strong fighters were about to clash. My palms started to get sweaty, and my eyes were focused only on him. 

“Fight!” The referee announced, and they threw themselves at each other. 

Punches, jabs and strikes cut the air in the tight space. Toji was the one who was building up his way to Sukuna’s space. He was conquering the fight little by little. Toji knew how strong Sukuna could be, he needed to take his time before he could kill him. After some minutes of teasing and a minute left on the timer, he went full beast mode on him. Sukuna wasn’t doing any offensive, he was just surviving being in the same cage as him. Gojo and Yuuji kept screaming incoherent instructions to him, but the public was so loud that Sukuna probably couldn’t hear him. Ten seconds on the clock and Toji connected a perfect jab to his ribs, taking air out of him.

The bell rang, and the referee separated them. Gojo, Yuuji and I quickly got inside the octagon to assist Sukuna for his next round. 

“I thought you were in the winner’s team,” Toji yelled at me. I ignored him to get to Sukuna. 

“You see what you have done? Are you trying to embarrass me?!” I yelled at Sukuna while Yuuji was showering him with water and put an ice pack on his ribs. My fighter looked at me with a frown. At least he wasn’t ignoring me now. “Now you are listening. You have to get closer. He has longer arms than you, he will rail you in boxing. Go for his legs, man!” I ordered, and he nodded, knowing I was right. “Make me proud, Sukuna.”

The next round started and Toji noticed the change in Sukuna’s attitude. He was wilder and straightforward than before, so he acted accordingly. They had three other rounds, but this was looking like the last one. Toji tried to connect a kick to Sukuna’s ribs, but his opponent took that opportunity to drop him to the ground. The audience stood up to get a better look at what was going on. 

“Get it, Sukuna! Just like we practice!” I yelled at him with the highest pitch I could, so my voice would stand out. 

Sukuna crawled and fought to get to Toji’s neck. “Is he going to do it?” I was shocked. He quickly got onto him to lock his opponent down against the mat with his legs around his neck and torso. Toji tried getting up, just like with Geto in his fight against Sukuna, but he wasn’t going to let him go so easily. Toji growled under his breath. He punched his sides, but Sukuna couldn’t give up. He latched his left leg on his right arm, causing Toji to turn around slowly. 

“Oh my god…” I mumbled without losing eye contact with his physique.

“Is he…?” Gojo thought the same. 

Sukuna made Toji turn on his belly. The black haired reached for his pink head, so he could only choke hold him in between his biceps. The euphoric screams from the audience kept getting louder as the fight got closer to the end. I saw Toji start to breathe with difficulty while his hands tried to loosen up Sukuna’s powerful grasp. He wasn’t going to let what happened in Las Vegas happen again. 

After seconds of contemplating his options to win this, Toji noticed he had zero. It was over. He got him, so he tapped his arms three times to release him himself in defeat. The referee allowed it and Sukuna loosened up. The buzzer went off to indicate the fight was over, and the audience went wild.

“Did you see that?! I taught him how to do that!” I screamed in excitement to Yuuji who was as excited as I was to see his brother keeping his title. 

Sukuna jumped over the fence to better hear the excitement of the public. The whole staff, the cameramen, and round girls entered the octagon to celebrate. The fighters got to the middle and the host announced Sukuna as the clear winner by technical knockout. Sukuna shook hands with Nanami, Gojo and Nanami in celebration. 

“I knew you could do it,” I said, bear hugging him to piss him off. 

To my surprise, he hugged me back. He was sweaty and clammy. His heart was rushing from adrenaline. His arms were trembling from exhaustion. I patted his back to show him my support. A smile appeared on my face when I realized that, for the first time, he was being sweet. 

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#fanfic #fanfiction #jujutsu kaisen #jjk imagine #fluff #sukuna ryomen #jjk fluff #ryomen sukuna #sukuna x reader #bullet fic #sukuna #jjk sukuna #jujutsu sukuna #sukuna ryomen x reader #sukuna ryomen smut #jujutsu kaisen ryomen #jjk ryomen #ryomen x reader #minors do not interact #jjk smut #female reader #x reader #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu gojo #jujustu kaisen #jjk gojo #itadori yuuji #jjk yuuji #itadori #modern au

[lurkingshan]

Wedding Plan and the Evolution of MAME

I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with MAME, one of the most notorious writers in the bl genre. Her shows have traditionally been a mixed bag of incredible chemistry, high heat, dubious consent, and pushy semes transgressing every boundary laid out for them, all of it built atop a foundation of heteronormativity and homophobic tropes. In the early years of bl, her shows were one of the only places you could go to see mature depictions of intimacy in relationships, but they also necessitated dodging through a landmine of problematic content. So my long standing policy has been to never watch her shows live and instead binge them when they’re done so that I can go in with some idea of what to expect. As someone who liked Love By Chance and TharnType for what they did well despite their problematic aspects, and actually kinda loved Love in the Air, I figured I would watch Wedding Plan at some point, but it wasn’t that high on my priority list. 

So imagine my surprise when people I trusted started telling me: hey wait, this is actually really good? Like, not good for MAME, but genuinely, legitimately a quality show. @bengiyo wrote a great post on the queer read of the story that was very intriguing indeed. @ginnymoonbeam wrote about seeing an authentic representation of her own experiences in the show. When I asked for others to weigh in, @negrowhat, @slayerkitty, @thegalwhorants, @nieves-de-sugui, @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle, and @magpie24601 all said they were enjoying it to various degrees and that it felt different from MAME’s previous works. So this weekend, I sat down to watch it, and as soon as I finished, I pinged @waitmyturtles, who had previously said she did not intend to watch any additional MAME shows, to tell her she had to add it to her project tracking the evolution of Thai bl. 

Because y’all, this show! This show is stunning, in more ways than one. The people and settings are gorgeous (shoutout to that McDonald’s money), the characters are compelling and sympathetic even when they behave in frustrating ways, the romance is properly swoony, the friendships are deep and touching, the family relationships are complex, and the ending is triumphant. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was taken aback by how genuinely rooted in queer experience and celebratory of queer love it felt. It was kind of a revelation, and I felt compelled to get down some thoughts about it. I’m going to break this down by narrative themes and characters so that I can dig into some of the tropes at play and what makes their deployment feel different here than it has in MAME’s previous shows.

The Core Premise

When I say this story feels authentically queer, this premise is the foundation of that. A lavender marriage is something that can only occur between queer characters. Right away, we are kicking MAME’s typical use of heteronormative tropes right out the door, because Lom already has a wife. Yiwa is his stand-in for the female partner his parents and society expect him to have, so Nuea cannot and will not fulfill that role. Instead, Lom’s pursuit of Nuea is explicitly about his desire to break away from those constraints and pursue the authentic queer life he has never been allowed to live, even if he has to do it undercover of this facade. Lom is gay, and he is pursuing a relationship with a gay man, and there is no coding here to make a heterosexual audience feel like what he wants with Nuea is the same as what he’d have with a woman. The difference, and the way one fulfills Lom while the other doesn’t, is the point.

Nuea

At first glance, our POV character, Nuea, feels like a stock MAME uke character. He is cute, he is a romantic, he is emotionally reactive, and he has a massive crush on Lom pretty much from jump. But pretty quickly, we start to notice some important differences between Nuea and those who came before him, starting with his competence and confidence. Nuea is the ace at his company and excellent at his work, and he’s financially comfortable. He is an out and confident gay man with a strong community of coworkers, friends, and family who will support him through anything and close ranks to protect him when needed. He does not share the standard characteristic of typical MAME ukes: uncertainty about who he is and/or low self-esteem. There’s simply not a whiff of that anywhere on Nuea. He knows who he is, and he knows what he wants. And as the story unfolds and Nuea gets deeper entangled with Lom, we recognize another crucial aspect of him: he is experienced, both emotionally and sexually. Nuea has been in relationships before, he knows how to say no, he knows how to draw a boundary, and he knows when he is deciding to cross one. In short, Nuea has something crucial that a lot of MAME ukes are lacking: power and agency. 

We see this throughout his relationship with Lom, as Nuea begins their flirtation eyes wide open about his own feelings and the fire he’s playing with, and alternately pulls back and pushes forward as his conscience wars with his desires. Nuea wants Lom. Their attraction is extremely mutual. No one is wearing anyone down or inspiring a sexuality crisis in this dynamic. Instead, Nuea’s struggle is rooted in his own morality and desire to be a good person, because he thinks Lom is taken, and he wants him anyway. Which is why we see him waffling so much and sending Lom all kinds of mixed signals, pushing him away with one hand while grabbing him back with the other, drawing boundaries only to step right back over them at the next opportunity. And when he finally crosses a boundary that he can’t rationalize (sex with Lom), he retreats back home to try to get his head together. It’s not an accident that despite Lom being in the active pursuer role, we see Nuea make a conscious decision to move forward and even be the one to initiate a relationship progression at several crucial points in the story. Nuea is making his own decisions here, and he has his own power over Lom that he exercises consistently. He’s warring with himself, not with Lom.

Lom

Lom is also, on the surface, a fairly standard MAME seme character. He wants Nuea, and he’s comfortable being pushy about it. He pursues Nuea fairly relentlessly, showing up in front of him even when he’s told not to, and leverages his role as Nuea’s client to see him as often as possible. He obsessively pines for Nuea in a way that also feels familiar. But for me, there is something that makes Lom stand out and feel markedly different from his predecessors in his romantic pursuit: sincerity and frank honesty. 

From the start, Lom is genuine in his interest in Nuea and sincere about how much he likes and admires him. He tells him in a very straightforward manner that he likes him and wants to spend time with him. He tells him he knows he doesn’t have the right, but he wants to kiss him and be near him anyway. He tells him exactly what he intends to do to stay close to him, and then he does it. He tells him honestly that he loves Yiwa, but not in the way Nuea thinks, and that he is not marrying her because he’s being forced. “But Shan,” I hear you yelling, “he did not tell him the most important truth!” And you’re right, he didn’t, at least not until he was forced to do so. Which brings me to the other thing that makes Lom so compelling: the constraints of the closet and his loyalty to Yiwa. 

Lom, unlike Nuea, does not have a supportive family or the freedom to live as an out gay man. What he does have is a best friend whom he loves deeply and completely, to the extent that he would sacrifice his own life and chance at happiness to protect hers. He has no choice but to hold some things back, because to lay it all bare would expose not only him, but her. The decision to tell a boy he likes the truth about the nature of their relationship is not just about him; anyone knowing is also a risk to Yiwa and the life she is building with Marine. And he takes his duty to protect that very seriously. On top of that, Lom has been in the closet since he was a teenager. We know that Lom and Yiwa connected over their queerness and their mothers’ bigotry when they were only 15 and 13, respectively. They grew up Knowing. That self-protective mindset is not something you can easily shake off, and not something you risk for any given person you develop a crush on. He is trying to walk a line in his pursuit of Nuea to snatch whatever happiness he can without blowing up his entire life. 

And to Lom’s credit, the moment he realizes how serious he is about Nuea, he goes after him (with Yiwa and Marine’s support), dutifully pays his penance and earns the respect of Nuea’s family, and finally unburdens himself, looking at Nuea with complete and total honesty and saying to him “This is who I am, this is my situation, can you deal with it? Do you still want me?” And by the way he sobs when Nuea says “YES” and asks to be part of his arrangement with Yiwa and Marine, he never expected for someone like Nuea to accept him and all the complications of his life. He was absolutely overcome by gratitude and relief, and you could see the burdens he’s been living under start to lighten. 

Yiwa and Marine

I don’t have anyone to compare Yiwa and Marine to, because to my recollection, they are the first significant female characters in any MAME story. And significant is an understatement. Yiwa is the engine that drives this entire story. The lavender marriage is her idea, because it’s the only way she can think to give herself the freedom to be with Marine under her mother’s watchful eye. She is the one who goes to her best friend and begs him to do this for her, because she trusts him absolutely and the devotion between them is complete enough that she knows he will sacrifice in such a monumental way for her. She is the one who encourages Lom to pursue his own happiness with Nuea within the constraints of their arrangement, hoping that he will find his own Marine that can hang in for this half life they’ve constructed to meet the tenets of filial piety. She is the one who ultimately decides to come clean when she sees how the lie is hurting Nuea. And she is the one who makes the final decision to prioritize her love over her obligations to her parents, and in doing so frees them all. 

The fact that a character like Yiwa exists in the bl genre at all, let alone in a MAME show, is mind-blowing to me. A female character with this much depth and narrative importance, who is not just here to play a cheerleader to men but instead to be a fully realized character with her own narrative? A female character who matters? In my Thai bl?? 

And Marine gets to matter, too. Marine, whose experience of coming into this relationship and accepting the limitations of the life Yiwa can offer her is treated with the utmost seriousness. Marine, who we see in joy and in struggle, who is kind and compassionate with Lom, who offers solace and guidance to Nuea, and who ultimately crumbles under the weight of Yiwa’s mother’s cruelty and reaches her breaking point. As minor as her role is, she feels like a real person, not a generic side character. The relationship between her and Yiwa is developed enough to make us feel invested in their happiness, to understand the choices they make, and to ultimately feel joy at them breaking free and living a more authentic life, even if it comes at the expense of Yiwa’s family bonds.

The Ending

Which brings me to the way this show ended its story, and how glorious it was. Yiwa and Marine run away to live on their own, freeing Lom from their agreement in the process. Yiwa takes full blame for the broken engagement, a parting gift to Lom that saves face for his parents and gives him cover to publicly dodge any further expectations for marriage to a woman. Lom’s mother, who is just as bigoted but not quite as stubborn and short-sighted as Yiwa’s mother, understands exactly what has happened, and reaches out to her son to assure him that she will no longer try to force the issue, and to ask him plainly not to run away from his family like Yiwa did. It’s not the support and love of Nuea’s family, but a kind of resigned acceptance that she offers. She knows who Nuea is to her son and she knows if she tries to intervene any further she will lose him for good. It was reminiscent for me of the dynamics between Shiro and his parents in Kinou nani tabeta—it still hurts, but it's a detente everyone can live with.

And Lom and Nuea? Have the freedom to love each other more openly. To flirt in a restaurant and hold hands in public. To live together and call themselves partners to the people who matter. We end on a message from Nuea about the beauty and joy of queer love, the simple nature of two people deciding to marry regardless of their gender, and a promise that someday soon he and Lom will be the ones to make that commitment. Just, perfection, and an earned resolution so rooted in a genuine queer experience. It’s not something I could have imagined seeing in a Thai bl even a few short years ago, and I am stunned that MAME is the one who delivered it. Her storytelling is clearly evolving with the culture around her, and I will be going into her future works with an open mind.

#wedding plan #wedding plan the series #thai bl #thai gl #shan shouts into the void

[nuwildcat]

10 QL people I want carnally aesthetically

Sooooo as your local ace, I couldn't complete the lovely tag from @sunshinesanctuary with carnally, cause....I don't think that way. BUT with a little chit chat in DMs with @luckydragon10 I was able to cobble together a list of aesthetically pleasing people from Queer Love series.

Cool I'm going to start with the two who lured me into Thai BL cause why not.

**note the following gifs will not be the most flattering, but instead the most hilarious ones I find on tumblr's atrocious gif search.

10. Tan (Max Nattapol) - Manner of Death

What can I say, I like a good cheeky monkey who has no idea what to do with the pretty man that has just kissed him. He has his little shit face on here, and that's about all it takes to lure in my ace heart.

9. Bunn (Tul Pakorn) - Manner of Death

What an orange cat of a man. Like, what were you thinking was going to happen (spoiler he was checking for a gun I think? sus little bean) but that is a horrible way to go about that. Charmed the shit out of me from the get go, he absolutely deserves to be on this list. Also that shirt is doin' werk.

8. Phupha (Earth Pirapat) - A Tale of a Thousand Stars

Right, so, as far as aesthetics go, this man is already pretty, but then they stuck him in a uniform, and I've always been a sucker for a uniform. He gives gremlin vibes this entire show, despite the serious face that is just stuck like that. (I am starting to sense a pattern...).

7. Prapai (Fort Thitipong) - Love in the Air

What does this man do? Seemingly, nothing. He has way too much time on his hands and a clearly overworked secretary, but I will say the lack of brain cells and puppy dog eyes kinda worked for me. (not enough to finish the series, but I was digging him).

6. Jang Jae Young (Park Seo Ham) - Semantic Error

I love how freakishly tall this man is. Once again I have found an absolute terror of a man (this one totally has a golden heart) and latched onto him instantly. The fact that he came with a built in size difference is just the icing on the cake.

5. Choi Yu Na (Song Ji Oh) - Semantic Error

Ummm. Yeah Imma just let that gif speak for itself. Immaculate babe, just keep doing what you're doing.

OKAY from here on it's just KP I don't know what y'all were expecting otherwise.

4. Tay (Us Nititorn) - KinnPorsche the Series

My love affair with Tay is long standing and undying. This is the best I could do to find a silly gif of him. Honestly I think that speaks to why he is so high on the aesthetic list. Poor man lost in a google coin toss to Big 😭

3. Big (Nodt Nutthasid) - KinnPorsche the Series

That right there ladies and gentlemen, is peak bodyguard performance, losing your shit over the new kid. All jokes aside there's something about this man's face that makes me wanna stare at it from like every angle. Give this man another role so I can stare at him more, please.

2. Porsche (Apo Nattawin) - KinnPorsche the Series

Ahhh Apo and his amazing faces. There is a unique ability to demonstrate just how little is going on in a character's head, and Apo has it DOWN. Porsche my darling, aesthetically your a freaking masterpiece, but baby if you think too hard you might hurt yourself. (Yes I am aware the theme is getting worse). THAT BEING SAID. Holy shit when you clean this boy up he is a force to recon with. That green suit??? it haunts me. Aesthetics on point with this brat.

Kinn (Mile Phakphum) - KinnPorsche

Right so this last one was actually hard to pick between Porsche and Kinn, buuuuut if I'm going form a character aesthetic approach I have to give the #1 spot to Kinn. My man slays through the majority of this show with suits on point, and cocky faces galore. I kinda hate him a little bit for how long I had to scroll to find an unflattering gif. EVEN HERE HE LOOKS GOOD he just got his dick sucked too hard in a helicopter to pull off suave. *throws hands up in the air* I just wanna put him in my pocket and take him out and shake him every once and a while.

I am very late to this game but I am going to inflict this on a couple people I think who haven't been tagged and whose answers I would find amusing. @lady-guts @fairhairedkings @medievalraven @stoeptepel @dr-lemurr

Please feel no obligation to participate I just think y'all would have good hot-takes.

#tag game #boys love #girls love #queer love #kinnporsche the series #manner of death #semantic error #love in the air #I don't know what I'm doing here I'm too ace for this

[anotherblblog]

Dead Friend Forever episode 12 blurb/series retrospective

wellllllllllllllllllllll that was the goriest, slasheriest, kill 'em-ness I've seen in Thai or any bl series

the episode was kinda short and the pacing made it seem rushed but not I'm sure if I really felt rushed or if it was just a breakneck pace

I do like that a lot of the theories and wishes weren't achieved/realized and the series still feels good. Like I know I wanted White and TanNew to live and at times Jin and Phee too but all of them ending up in this ceaseless purgatory slaughterhouse is kinda fitting. Non couldn't escape his fate due to the actions of others and the rest of the group couldn't escape the fallout aka TanNew's life implosion and his pursuit of vengeance for his brother and family

Cuz like yeah White, it truly seems, was just at the wrong place and wrong time. The theories and sentiment of White being part of some Perth and TanNew third killer ace in hole was nice and could have worked but it didn't happen and I don't feel the show really lacked for it

Like we saw one of the masked killers with crutches and the killer always had a maybe magic, maybe mundane vibe the show liked to play with. So perhaps Non really did survive somehow or maybe he just really had a rather unmarkable end after his harrowing captivity and enslavement

anywho standouts for the episode and series -

TanNew going full slasher - lovely, wonderful, great job Mio. You sold and I bought. And as an elder sibling, bitch I don't necessarily condone your behavior but I motherfucking understand you and also why you were Phee were destined to have a falling out. Phee did geniunely love and care for Non but the information that Phee had because Non specifically and intentionally lied to Phee meant that Phee could ultimately move on with Jin but TanNew was frozen in that grief and by Phee interrupting TanNew's attempt, Phee sealed his own fated too

Jin's hallucation montage - kinda campy in a good way and also like really modern. Like this type of voyuerism enabled by modern technology is really scary. Like gays have been fucking and sucking in bathrooms since before bathrooms were existed and will continue to (and last night at this bar I was at - there were several gays keeping me from peeing because they were fucking in the bathroom stall). So I compare how the leaked sex tape was used in this series with Only Friends and I do feel DFF really did that subplot and theme so much better

The first third of ep 12 aka the slaughter house - like it's a series so total suspension of disbelief to let the series tell me that Top can get shot in the stomach (or near enough) after a series of beatings and days of high stress and still have the gas in the tank for a final fight. But the tension and motivations were really high and going from the joker class clown who kinda started a lot of the Non ends up a slave plot by Top breaking Por's camera and Fluke mister always trying to keep my hands clean but always being near and having the truth but not sharing taking themselves out together was obvious symbolism to me and still really good. Then going from that to Tee being made to inadvertently kill his lover and the person who inspired him to better himself while White's last images are his boyfriend who he like 3 minutes ago learned was a really massive piece of shit and a victim and victimizer and (I don't know about Thai laws and accidental death or manslaughter and all that) but learning your bf is connected and inarguably one of the biggest participants in this Non situation surely must have not felt good, then he stabs you while you think it's because you're not pretty. Madness and chaos and really cool scene.

Phee, Phee, Phee, our series lead - overall I think Ta did a fantastic job. Like so many times, he would enter a scene and I would think "this dude has stage presence" - highlight of him was the revealation he was Non's boyfriend as he saves Non from his attempt. That episode and the one prior with this abscene were fine and good but when he came back onscreen, it was like, yeah, you've got IT. Now the finale arc with him is frustrating because of the discourse and the piety of people and shipping. Yes Non was groomed. Por is the closest person in series to call out the massive inappropriateness of Keng and Non. But it is critical to point out, that Phee did not know about that and saw Non being hugged and comforted by Keng, so he made the deduction that Non was hot for teacher. And then the disappearance and police stuff happened and Phee was motivated to find the truth. He was fueled by his own guilt at his last words to Non but even as he was trying to find Non, as he told his dad, he wasn't sure how he felt about forgiving Non because Non told Phee to his face there was nothing wrong and then Phee watches Non and Keng fucking. So yeah, it makes sense he could could join in on TanNew's plan but he didn't have the same stakes that TanNew did.

The mean girl messy clique worked because you saw that it was largely a friend of convenience for them and you had two different type of alpha girls (Por and Tee) and then a lacky Top and two people who seemed to be voting for the leopard eating face party because they didn't want their own faces ate

The heat was decently high and the NC scenes were really good, that ass slap is iconic

Lows

we didn't get enough with Jin. He was arguably the 2nd or 3rd most "important" character to this maybe and we just didn't get enough of him or his character for him to be fully realized for me

Overall BoC's second series was really good. I think they avoided the sophomore slump.

Maybe the dead friend forever is the friends we made along the way

#dead friend forever #dead friend forever the series #dff the series #dead friend forever episode 12

[another-danganronpa-fan]

hear me out- DRDT heathers AU

I've been on a DRDT brainrot recently and it's sad to see the creator go on hiatus but I will respect what's best for them :) meanwhile I will cope by imagining them in a heathers AU (SPOILERS FOR BOTH HEATHERS *AND* DANGANRONPA DESPAIR TIME!) BOTH DRDT AND HEATHERS HAVE PEOPLE D*ING AND BL**D AND ALL THAT STUFF SO TRIGGER WARNING FOR THAT! Veronica: Xander

I know what you're thinking already: "But Teruko's the main character shouldn't she be Veronica in this AU" and I agree- somewhat. -But the main thing is that Teruko has more "unhinged" sprites than Xander, and Xander's personality just fits more with Veronica. They're both more...confident? Teruko is confident in her abilities too but she gives off more JD vibes. OH AND ANOTHER THING- in meant to be yours, "You were all I could **trust**...." just fits Teruko's overall theme of trust. And when JD gets shot, Teruko's bloody sprites would be perfect.

-And since David is part of the Heathers in this AU I can see Xander being like "They're solid Teflon—never bothered, never harassed,,,I would give anything to be like that"

-I feel like Veronica just fits Xander more than Teruko (even though Veronica and Teruko's voices are pretty similar) since he looks up to David like Veronica kinda looked up to the Heathers (even though she didn't really like them like Xander liked David), and both David and the Heathers end up being...well....you know...

-Xander's also a lot more emotional and impulsive than Teruko, just like how Veronica out of impulse decides to have sex with JD before Heather C "ends" her.

-"Dear diary: I believe I'm a good person, y'know, I think there's some good in everyone..." isn't something Teruko would say to be honest,, even in the prologue she says something like "there's no reason for us to trust each other in the first place"

JD: Teruko

-Continuing from before, Teruko would be JD in this AU. JD says that he doesn't bother making relationships because he is constantly moving from school to school, and has been taught that "life is war" similar to how Teruko has the mindset of "I can't trust anyone". And how she was also moving constantly due to medical debt.

-Another thing: Xander: "Does your mommy know you eat all that crap?" Teruko: "Not anymore! When my parents were there-"

-Before Xander betrays Teruko, she genuinely cared for Xander more than anyone else in the cast. Even though Teruko's not as bad as JD, post-chapter 1 she began to isolate herself since she knows she can't trust them like JD hated the bad people in the school.

-She has the unhinged sprites too come on- everything else I was gonna say is already listed in the Xander section, so...moving on!

Ram Sweeney: Ace

-Pretty self-explanatory- both "jock" characters who are kinda a-holes. I was actually contemplating having Ace as Heather Chandler but I really can't think of anyone else who'd fit Ram/Kurt. Ace's character has a lot more depth, but for this AU he's really at his worst isn't he...

Kurt Kelly: Levi

-In Beautiful, it's mentioned that Kurt Kelly's the smartest guy on the football team, and although that's honestly not too big of an achievement, he is smarter than all the other jocks. Levi's more level-headed and more sane than Ace, but he does have his bad moments. Not to mention he had a dark past too.

Martha: Eden

-This was also kinda what made me consider Teruko to be Veronica in this AU instead, as Eden consistently makes an effort to hang out with Teruko.

-Eden honestly fits Martha really well, especially when she brings sparkling cider to the party in Big Fun. It's just such an Eden thing to do, you know? They're both kind and innocent and deserved better.

-Xander probably would have gotten along with Eden...

Mrs. Fleming: Hu

-Although Mrs. Fleming is more of a hippie than Hu, I feel like she fits the most here. Hu is more "motherly", and more mature than most of the cast, and her constant pushing to defend Nico would also go with the theme of Mrs. Fleming getting the students to "feel".

Now, for the Heathers!!!

Heather Chandler: Arturo

-I don't know anymore man...I already knew David and Arei were both gonna be part of the Heathers, and I originally had Ace there, too, but I don't know who would've been Ram if he was. My first thought was Ace as HC, David as HD, and Arei as HM. My second thought was Arei as HC, but she gets her character development unlike Heather C (at least I didn't see any that I know of) Arturo belittles those he deems as "unworthy" similar to Heather Chandler, so I think he fits the best for now.

Heather Duke: David -They both have a greenish color scheme!!! (is David's hair green?? I mean...his bow tie is green), but on a more serious note, both David and Heather Duke start out very different than when they reveal another side to them.

-Heather Duke starts out as someone who is constantly bullied by Heather C, but develops into a jerk who tells Heather M to kill herself. David, on the other hand, starts out as a good person, but his true nature is revealed in the second trial. HOWEVER, it's implied that he isn't as evil as he seems. But, he still made fun of Arei and Min after their deaths. -Another point is that Veronica treats Heather Duke nicely as stated in the Heather Wiki- (Although, this might be because that the Wiki is probably based on the movie and not the musical itself). "Veronica Sawyer seems to have been closest with Heather Duke than with the other Heathers. Veronica helped Heather throw up and Heather laughed at Veronica’s jokes. Heather Duke seems to enjoy having Veronica around. They listen to Hot Probz together every time it is on. However, when Heather becomes an even bigger tyrant than Heather Chandler was, Veronica resents Heather Duke, especially for bullying Heather McNamara and takes over Heather Duke's position as leader of the school at the end of the film."

-Even if the movie is ignored here, Veronica didn't completely despise Heather D, until she becomes the mega-jerk she was. Similar to how Xander and David were pretty close and admired each other, but David turned out to be a manipulator of some kind, even if he's less evil than he's letting on. If Xander had lived to see David's persona reveal, he'd be shocked, to say the very least.

Heather McNamara: Arei

-If Arei hadn't gotten her character development at all, she'd most definitely be Heather Chandler. However, she did make the effort to change and be a better person, and ended up making amends towards Eden, who she bullied.

-Heather Duke also manipulated Heather M into attempting suicide, similar to the conversation David and Arei had in Chapter 2, episode 11, about how Arei said something along the lines of "You told me I could change", or something like that. This is a bit of a stretch, though.

Please feel free to disagree with my heathers AU in any way! I'd love to hear any other opinions you guys may have.

This has been sitting in my drafts for so long helpdfksfjl

#heathers #danganronpa despair time #drdt #xander matthews #teruko tawaki #arturo giles #david chiem #arei nageishi #ace markey #levi fontana #eden tobisa #hu jing #heathers x drdt

[chaos0pikachu]

tldr: censorship fucking sucks and word of honor and xena are mlm/wlw solidarity 

okay this was a random thought that came to me during a combo of rewatching of Word of Honor and reading a post that declared Word of Honor “didn’t count” on their BL list of whatever the fuck and here’s the thought, here’s the vibe, Word Of Honor has a lot in common with Xena: Warrior Princess

Hear me out

Everyone kinda knows that Xena - and by extension Lucy Lawless - as a bisexual/queer woman icon, and that Xena/Gabrielle is probably still one of the most prominent wlw ships in western canon. That’s a huge part of the shows iconography in pop culture. But like, if you rewatch the show, things between Xena and Gabrielle are kept pretty ambiguous but in that ambiguously totally gay way (like WenZhou!). 

The network was actively against Xena and Gabrielle being more than, what fans would probably call nowadays, bait. An executive told producer Rob Tapert that by making Xena and Gabrielle explicit there would be a surge of interested followed by a sharp decline. 

It should be noted that Xena was already a controversial show for it’s era - not just for the gay subtext but under fire from religious groups, anti-feminist groups, and others. 

The showrunners and producers also didn’t intend for Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship to, eh, blossom the way it did. Fans ran with it. Ironically, the intention of the show was to push Xena’s men of color love interests which also made the network gun shy (remember folks racism exists alongside homophobia!). 

Xena and Gabrielle operated in a highly censored space (that still exists in American media btw!! Take it from someone who knows first hand) that was beholden to network hand-wringing, capitalism, and societal homophobia at large.  So their relationship could only live within an ambiguous space. Ironically enough, just like WenZhou, Xena and Gabrielle are also referred to as “soulmates” in the text of the show. But ya know, sometimes soulmates are platonic, sometimes romantic. Which are WenZhou and Xena/Gabrielle? Well that’s up for the viewer to decide b/c the production teams hands are tied. 

Even so, even with the censorship, we all still view Xena as legitimate queer representation within the pop culture space. Why? Why Xena and not Word of Honor?

For me, they both count, especially WoH because it’s source material IS queer. But the filter of censorship snipped and cut the text away so everything would be forced to live within that ambiguous “up to the audience aka gotta make the advertisers comfortable” space. 

I don’t think it’s fair to throw WoH out because the production couldn’t, like they were not allowed, to showcase text on screen. Similar to Xena queer fans knew that her and Gabrielle were in love, soulmates (romantic) by the end (where Xena dies, like literal for reals death she’s ashes carried on by Gabby at the end btw spoiler alert for a 20 year old show at least WK got silver hair and immortality out of his death experience). 

Queer fans appreciated and cultivated what Xena gave us because, no offense but what the fuck else was there? Not a lot, and even less in the fantasy space. Hell, there’s still not a lot of queer representation in the fantasy space we’re only just now going “hey maybe Tolkien’s ultra white British view of things is not the only way to do things?" And now House of Dragon has Black actors in terrible wigs (they’re so fucking bad rip) in 2022. Woooo~ most queer chars in western fantasy media are mainly found in kids cartoons - which, fucking aces there but also - probably why there’s so many adults in those spaces in fandom (not my bag personally) and why I think the popularity of danmei, c-dramas, and k-dramas is on the rise. People are hungry for epic fantasy content, epic romance content, and queer content. 

but like, I think about queer folks who live in China, who watched WoH (ya know, the intended audience, not Americans) who are probably feeling the same thing people felt when they watched Xena. Yeah, Mr. Advertiser Xena and Gabrielle are soulmates (platonic) wink wink, Yeah Mr. Network ZZS and WKX are soulmates (platonic) wink wink

and I think that’s still valuable. idk I just don’t think it’s right for foreigners to be like “no you’re queer media doesn’t count actually because I deem it so” when the reason for the relationship being subtextual is literal censorship. And yet the text is hella gay anyway!! like at the end of the day we’re all battling the crushing weight of homophobia but not everyone’s fight is exactly the same especially country-to-country and I think that should still be respected. given how damn gay WoH is anyway I imagine the producers fought really fucking hard to give audiences what they did. Just like the producers of Xena fought against the network to do what they could. 

anyway, thoughts and shit

#Word Of Honor #faraway wanderers #shl #wenzhou #chaos pikachu speaks

[supanuts]

10 BL Boys I Want Carnally

or as close to that as i can get, tagged by @bunnakit !

i had to look deep in my soul and tumblr gifs for this so please enjoy the boys, under a cut to keep the mystery alive for two more seconds

i am very ace so the concept is nebulous, let's just say i feel some type of way... and if you see me call these men my sons it's bc they are, ty for your time <3 also the order is kinda eehhhh general idea, i don't actually keep a mental list it took me hours to make this one 😭

10. pete (kiss me again/dark blue kiss)

do not ask me why idk either... there's just Something i can't explain. also it was between him and knock from together with me so i'm choosing the one that committed less crimes, anyway *holds him up like a potato* i just think he's neat

9. vegas (kinnporsche)

my little meow meow,, my explanation for most of these is just "do i not have eyes", but some (like vegas) are special jsjs in his case kp was the first thai bl i watched, as soon as he became remotely relevant i was obsessed with him and then a rewatch made me finally fall into thai bl as a whole so... thank you for your service

8. gong gil (the king and the clown)

my baby my darling my angel and the reason i even know about lee joongi, the actor i've been following the longest that i remember. i haven't watched tkatk in a while so i don't remember the details that well but i've always loved him, pretty sure he's my first bl boy too

7. xie'er (word of honor)

does he count? is this cheating? idc he's staying either way, MY XIE'ER 😭 will never get over him or his killer eyeliner

6. gaipa (moonlight chicken)

possibly the cutest 30yo man out there, that alone endeared me to him but also the way he is with his mother is just so 🥺 he's so special to me (also the fact that he's 30 AND cute as heck it's just so personal to me)

5. wen (moonlight chicken)

god i wish i could explain what he DOES TO MY BRAIN. some of it is the mix effect but i was normal about mix before wen so... he's so beautiful so magnetic i want to bite him

4. black (not me)

listen- he's my lil murder raccoon i know there's plenty of reasons for him to be as angry as he is for the 90% of his screen time and they're all sad but he's just so attractive like that (even though i'm more of a white girlie most of the time)

3. karan (cherry magic th)

i've only had him for two eps but if anything happened to him i would kill everyone in this room and then myself, etc. he's perfect and a nerd and i would love him for any of those two things alone, but they're combined into such a gentle beautiful (inside and out) and sensitive character i jsut love him so much

2. way (pit babe)

so i am definitely not babe, here supporting way's rights and wrongs from day 1. is he pretty? yes. is he evil? quite possibly. do i still want him? also yes. he hasn't touched me so pretty sure his big sad eyes are doing something. to me.

1. sand (only friends)

The Only Man, which is how my non bl friends know him bc i've apparently called him 'the only man i would like if i liked men' more than once ? HIM

special entry: tharn (the sign), yeah this one is definitely cheating

(using the only gif i've made of him so far which isn't great for this but...)

he's so tiny and efficient... like a fiat 500

if you see this and want to do it consider yourself tagged by me <3

#enjoy #don't ask me how i choose i have absolutely no idea #some aren't even my faves from their series #sasa talks #tag game #10 bl boys i want carnally #kinda

[mlaura-solointer]

My greatest wish is that one day in the bl world there would be ace or aro or aroace people, specifically I want sex repulsed (for themselves) characters. I'm kinda tired of actors that are stiff af also with a simple hug because this will lead to passionless kisses and terrible sex scenes. I don't want KP (they were pretty believable) level but at least a tiny bit of enthusiasm or please, redo the weird camera angle so we don't have to see the bad kissing.

When I skip a sex scene I do it because they're boring af not because I'm ace (aego). I read and watch many things and I'm not bothered at all if they're written and made with care. It's a fantasy world so I don't care, but when they're so poorly acted then it's a huge no.

I already said it: do like og Cherry magic, no kissing no sexy scenes because one of the mains was not comfortable and to me it's still the best series.

#thai bl #korean bl #japanese bl #and every other bl #a man who defies the world of bl #they can do everything they want

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - OMG PLEASE STOP SINGING

May 2023 Wk 2 

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Thai Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 4 of 10 (MDL still says 12, but Gaga still says 10) - Jeng trying to improve himself so awkwardly is kinda sweet. I love that Bruce it here & queer! Yay! Chot is my favorite but Pat is my spirit animal, I always sniff people’s bath products. Jeng looking at Pat in the suit = hello, future husband. The irony of Pat running around trying to find Jeng’s weakness, when it’s clearly him. Also WASH YOUR HANDS & NO SINGING. 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - still loving this one, enjoyed seeing the seme’s side of the meat cute. The miscommunication seems properly vested (although we may be manipulated by the visuals into thinking it’s kissing when it isn’t). But so far I am all in. Also killer chemistry with the leads already. My catnip. BUT... NO SINGING! 

Our Skyy 2 (Vise Versa) eps 7-8 - Each day of the month is a BL trope? That jives. The kid was a fun plot twist - if he had been real and not a lie. I chortled a lot and all the domesticity was nice, but I wasn’t surprised when it was all Pluen lying again. Once a liar, always a liar. Could Jimmy please play a better character next time? Also. NO SINGING. 6/10

Pastsenger (Thai Weds Gaga) ep 10 of 12 eps - Amnesia just makes me feel like we backslid and all the previous work of watching 9 eps is for naught. And it was WORK with this show. At least it only lasted one episode, but still, they’re gonna use it to continue the rift? Sigh. 

A Boss and a Babe (Fri YouTube) ep 11 of 12 - As much as I dislike these characters being constantly betrayed by the narrative, I really do love Cher. A sunshine sweetheart who is actually a decent honest human, who’s not ashamed of his love or his personality, it’s really rare and admirable on screen. I have to give B&B props for this character, if nothing else. And there is nothing else. This was possibly one of the stupidest episode 11 dooms ever fielded. And I do not say that lightly.

The Promise (Thai Weds YT & WeTV) ep 8 of 10 - This show has got to stop dwelling on the separation, every time they do it it just makes Phu look worse. I legitimately didn’t think that was possible. I LOVE Party so much. Not only is he a good friend, and probably an excellent boyfriend, he’s a great businessman. Khun is lovely too. Happy to have him win Nan’s heart. Really, anyone but Phu. Also Nan = an ace who collects hotties everywhere he goes? Props baby. 

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) ep 2 of 12 - Very soap - kinda creepy, too long pauses, bloated cast, and utter confusion. Odd. The captions are insane, one name can (and will) be spelled 3 different ways. It’s a VAST cast and I can only really identify 3 characters: 1. the actor with the (beard?) gf who’s a suspiciously militant ally, 2. The oldest actor in the house with dark traumatic past, 3. The adorable evil femme who needles everyone. I might drop this show, I’m only really still watching bc it’s the only BL airing on Monday. Also: NO SINGING

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I’ve been waiting for this chapter. It’s one of my favorites from the manga. 

Love Mate (Korea Thurs Viki) eps 3-4 of 8 - Aggressive flirting or stalking? These 2 give Lovely Writer vibes. Honestly, I never thought Korea would go so very old school yaoi. Also went quickly to a high heat place I wasn’t expecting (but Japan would). 50% for a sex scene is very gay but wild for a KBL. If this were Strongberry it would’ve ended on this episode and I would’ve been fine with it. Now what? 4 eps of boyfriends? That’s cool but what is this crazy surreal BL world I am living in?

Happy Merry Ending (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 5-6 of 8 - Honestly, Korea, does it always have to be a love triangle? Always? Anygay, timid tsundere & confident sunshine is an interesting match. They’re sweet together, almost kindly. I like the calm ache of this pair. At first I thought it would be too much like Love Mate, but they’re completely different. I really want someone to punch the CEO ex, oh goodie! Battle of the hyungs. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) - very in line with the my cat boyfriend tradition but honestly how can any human look like that? He truly myst be a cat. 

The Day I Loved You (Pinoy YouTube) eps 4-5 of 10 - It’s cute. They’re cute. Truth comes out when locked in a bathroom. Yay a new pinoy BL I actually like for a change. It’s been a LONG time. However BOOO for the doomy  “I want to be remembered, are you dying”. But a nicely dramatic midpoint. 

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 12 - How can he be so completely unaware of how in love he is? Ah well, I suppose we aren’t yet half way through and it’s one of THOSE JBLs. In yaoi half the time you are husbands before you even confess you like the other person. 

It is unfair for a real live human to be this beautiful. We talking Hunjin-level unfair. WTF Vietnam? Why you gotta broadside us like this? 

It’s Airing But ...

Love Syndrome (Thai Sat WeTV) stopped at ep 2 of 12 - I’m just not into any aspect of it (except Lee Long Shi) - saving to binge if the end is solid.

Venus in the Sky (Sat YouTube) pilot/tester?) 0 of 10 - not entirely sure what’s up with this one distribution-wise, but the pilot was classic university-set pulp. I hope it happens because the leads are cute with good chemsitry and I thought it was fun. However, this pilot holds together as its own little short too.

Stormy Honeymoon (Vietnam)

My Story (Pinoy Sat YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - I bounced.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Star Struck (Korea iQIYI) ostensibly starts Thursday but icky is being janky about it, so we shall see - A boy has had a crush on his childhood friend for a long time. Stars Zuho (Kpop SF9 - noted good egg) opposite rookie actor Kim In Sung (the one with the crush).

Happy Merry Ending and Boss & Babe both end. Be My Favorite will be taking the GMMTV Fridgay time slot. 

Coming in May 2023:

5/26 Be My Favorite prev title: You Are My Favorite (Thai YouTube) Adapted JittiRain y-novel (2gether, FUTS, ToL, Vice Versa) one of those “rewrite the past to change the future.” Stars Krist (SOTUS) + Fluke Gawin (DBK, Not Me). Expect this to be v low heat, full of LIES and manipulation. 

5/27 The Luminous Solution (Thai ????) 10 eps - Thana is having trouble at work and in his relationship. He can't seem to catch a break. So he makes a wish to change everything. The wish has a price.

5/27 Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa (Japan) - NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS (but that has never stopped Japan before) and no, I have no idea where to get it, why would I ?????  (Say it with me everyone: Oh Japan, must you?*)

* At least I never have to tell Japan to stop singing. Small mercies. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

House of Cards. I like this character. I don’t have any idea who he is or why he’s so militant of an ally but I still like him. 

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. (Vice Versa’s Our Skyy eps) 

Preach, sweetheart.

Yes, please and thank you. (Both Boss & Babe) 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? ONEUS - ERASE ME, I like the concept (suits! corset! kinky!) and it’s catchy enough

#this week in BL #bl news #BL gossip #upcoming BL #new BL #best BL #BL reviews #korean bl #thai bl movie #Japanese BL #live action yaoi #Rakutan Viki #gagaoolala #GMMTV #pinoy bl #Vietnamese bl #Step By Step #La Pluie #Our Skyy 2 #vise versa the series #Pastsenger #A Boss and a Babe #House of Stars #Bokura no Shokutaku #Happy Merry Ending #Vian the series #The Day I Loved You #Zenra Meshi #Star Struck #ONEUS

[if-i-was-a-cucumber]

my love for mew | only friends

to be absolutely frank, i was super hesitant to make this post because i’m a bit shy to make only friends (2023) content.

this is mostly because of its explicit nature? everyone on the planet has known that this is the Sexy Show™ (at least everyone in the bl community) and i’m very squeamish with that sort of thing. i’ve only been tentatively watching the show because i know it’s definitely going to be a mark on the community, just because of how popular it already is, but as a somewhat sex-repulsed asexual i sort of only started watching it because i knew it was making some sort of history, even if as just a small blip.

but omg i was wrong. on so many levels. and maybe i’ll make a post about the other levels someday, but for this one i want to talk about how wrong i was about specifically MEW.

1. mew as a character - my first impressions

six main characters in only friends, right? top, mew, sand, ray, boston, nick. basically everyone in this show has a “thing” about their except for mew. top is a sort-of asshole who sleeps around; boston is an even bigger asshole (like HUGE) who sleeps around even more, except he’s less rich; nick is kinda cute in personality but is actually a bit deranged; ray is needy and spoiled but everyone lets him get away with it; sand is responsible and tired of everyone’s bullshit, even his love interest to an extent.

but mew? since the beginning, all we ever got was “virgin.” he’s innocent, sexually pure. that really didn’t do it for me — meaning it didn’t intrigue me. i was fully prepared to go in and come out of this show with mew as my least favorite character, not because he was bad or evil or anything, but because he was boring. the worst crime you can commit in media is to be boring.

even his relationship with top, as the episodes progressed, was very bland. yes top was a cheater, but that didn’t quite affect mew’s characterization, other than that it reiterated that he was a little naïve in this field. great, more virgin mew. i just really wasn’t into this little perfect smart boy who’s never had sex before and is so sweet and innocent and kind to everyone that even his friend ray is in love with him.

there was a small beam of hope, though, in the episode 2 date with top. i liked his agency, i liked how he wasn’t so drawn in by top. and i especially liked the following line:

as quick as that hope came, though, it faded. that’s not what this post is about though, and i’ll get to it in a sec. for now:

2. book kasidet as an actor - my previous biases

before anyone says anything, this is not meant to be slander against book. the whole next section is talking about book specifically in the context of the characters he’s acted as before, not about him as a person. he is a great actor who portrays all of his characters exactly as they are. this is not really about him — the only real reason i’m bringing him into this is because he’s mew’s actor.

book’s only other main roles in a series have been as théo in enchanté (2022) and cher/laem in a boss and a babe (2023). which is amazing, considering how recently he debuted, but i digress. the point is, at least in the thai bl industry where i can probably recognize 80% of the actors in any given bl, who the actor is and especially who they have played in the past is really important to me when i watch a series.

forcebook has never quite been my cup of tea, in the least offensive way possible. i dropped enchanté on its first episode (because the plot annoyed me) and a boss and a babe on its second (i couldn’t get over the workplace unprofessionalism). i’ve never been super involved in the forcebook fandom, either. not to mention a part of force’s appeal is his physical sexiness and as an ace person, that really doesn’t appeal to me. what i’m trying to say is that i had no initiative nor care for either force or book as actors and had no previous attachment to them that would draw me to love their characters.

an example of this actor-bias working positively are a couple who are in this series: first and khaotung. the eclipse (2022) was one of my first ever bls and i absolutely adored it from start to finish. i rewatched it twice and have since gone through reoccurring phases of firstkhaotung obsession. and in only friends, sand and ray (played by firstkhaotung) are my favorite couple.

i won’t say this is strictly because first and khaotung portray them, because that’s not at all fair to how sand and ray are as their own individual characters and how much i love them as well. but i can’t say it doesn’t contribute.

an example of this actor-bias working extremely negatively was pond naravit from fish upon the sky (2021). i don’t know if i’ve mentioned it on this blog before or not but i have a very hate-love relationship with that series. for one, the approval of disgusting fan behavior icks me to no end and i can’t help but scream at mork in every scene of the later episodes; for two, mork’s disavowal of every one of pi’s rejections sends me to non-con city, without my consent. (and yes the above picture was taken out of context but mork deserves it.)

but on the other hand, for some god damned reason, i’ve rewatched the entire series not twice, but three times. but i’m digressing again. the point is that for a very long time, i refused to watch never let me go (2022) just because pond naravit was in it, and at the time, i thought i despised him because of how mork acted in fish upon the sky. of course i gave it a try and watched a pondphuwin interview or two and now i love him just as much as the next fan, but the actor-bias theory is real.

so, back to the original topic, a part of my initial dislike for mew was not only that his character was boring, but that i didn’t care enough for book kasidet as an actor or forcebook as a couple to carry me through that dislike. i really wanted mew to have personality, to have something special that differentiated him from a slab of cardboard, even if it was a negative trait.

3. the moment it all changed - only friends episode 6

the real meat of this post. the reason i’m posting any of this in the first place. it’s because i wanted to share the moment everything about my perceptions of mew as a character changed.

for a while i’d been thinking of mew as maybe a little more than the cardboard he appeared to be. he had some sense of agency, he wasn’t completely dependent on top, even if he did fall in love so soon. even if their romance had zero chemistry, at least mew was taking things on his own terms. i even supported him punching ray, at least in the context of creating character for mew, because that was something interesting that surprised me.

what really surprised me was THE SCENE. you all know what i’m talking about.

after mew’s birthday, after ray made a mess out of the whole thing and turned mew’s special day into a shitshow, after mew decided it’s okay and let’s spend sweet sexy time with my boyfriend, he pulls THIS:

AND WITH THAT SMIRK, HE PLAYS BOSTON AND TOP’S SEX TAPE RIGHT THEN AND THERE. I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW HARD I GASPED.

and then there was more.

their ENTIRE RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC has changed. they’ve been building up the whole past 6 episodes of mew trying to be in charge but top always getting what he wants in the end, like with mew trying to take things slow but eventually he does sleep with top. mew having his own reservations about LASIK but top eventually convincing him to get it, making him physically vulnerable to top for an entire evening.

no matter how much agency mew is trying to garner himself, top always, ironically enough, ends up on top.

but here? right here? there’s no question about it. this whole evening, mew achieves the control he’s been trying to find throughout this entire relationship, and it comes in the form of his boyfriend fucking his best friend. you KNOW top has lost control because we’ve never seen him look so blank and powerless, have we?

but it gets better.

because mew wasn’t only in charge once he started playing the sex tape. he’s been affecting the mood of the scene since the beginning.

he hugs top when he enters the room and gives him a false sense of security. he even brings up ray. he lit that candle in the back just a moment ago. he’s literally and figuratively setting the tone for everything.

“when we fuck someone like boston, it’s hard to stop fucking them. don’t you think?”

top tries to isolate mew from ray again. he takes every chance he can get to insult him. and mew lets him believe that it’s working. (of course top’s insults also make sense in the context that ray was being an asshole that morning but we’re talking about mew’s characterization right now.)

and most linguistically of all to contribute to the change of atmosphere: mew is on top of top.

fangirls, fanboys, and fanneithers of the jury, i believe mew is moving up the ranks.

#gmmtv bl #thai bl #only friends #only friends series #character study #mew #topmew #only friends episode 6 #mew pre–ep 6 and post–ep 6 is a big enough change that he could host his own eras tour #please share your thoughts on the only friends characters! #i love reading about them #i read that one about boston and machiavelli #it was so good that i'm writing an english essay on a machiavellian-esque character from a short story #i feel like top and mew are going to be more interesting from now on #we do need to have a talk about their severe lack of chemistry though #it's not like forcebook doesn't have any? #the lack of chemistry must be a creative choice for topmew #especially since it's so noticeable in comparison to sandray and bostonnick #bl meta

[inventedfangirling]

Hi! What r ur thoughts on OhmLeng's Kidnap the series?? I mean we all know Ohm is a great actor and he can have chemistry with a rock if he want. But for some reason the chemistry is unbalanced here?? I might be biased because of my now and forever bad buddy hang over, so I wanted to know your opinion. (This is not an hate ask on the series or ohm, just a genuine question)

First of all, thankyou for asking me that! I didn't know i had this many opinions about the show from that teeny trailer until i wrote this answer hehe.

And to get to my answer yes I kinda get what you mean anon. I also am supremely biased towards ohmnanon's chemistry. That being said i don't think that's the issue here. I just rewatched the trailer again, and idk what they said about the series or if they're adapting this from somewhere, but it really looks like took a bare thread plot and made the trailer and left the actual developing of the story to be done for later. And if that's the case then both actors don't have the entire background and story to give their performances the depth they should have. So it feels like a very surface level performance and not the kinda stuff we know ohm can pull off.

Also I saw this post and in the light of that and the fact that we did not get a kiss in the trailer (not that having a kiss is the be all and end all of a bl or a romantic relationship but still it) makes me wonder if it is in that queerbait bracket after all. What if the showmakers made the trailer in such a way to give us hope but not to guarantee it to us ykwim? Like if you few it from different angles you know you can interpret their actions and their implications in very different ways.

Their dynamic in that scene where ohm is asking leng to take off his brother's gift while having bl undertones, felt more bickering sibling-ey than budding lovers ( i hate that word but i cant think of anything better to use here). That scene right before the end where ohm stretches out his hand to lift leng up and then the nodding with the smiling gave such strong friendship vibes i just could not ignore it. We had the cliche (usually) romantic tending to each other's wounds scene and they ended it on a scene where their faces are super close and towards each other, but that could be the queerbait part of it.

It could also be that the story is all fine and perfect but it's just that as a cast and a pairing they're new to each other and so their chemistry is of course something that cant be compared to what ohmnanon with their years long friendship and acting experience were able to create. Maybe spending more time together working on the project will help iron any and all rough patches out.

So yes long story short i do agree that the chemistry did feel unusual. And i'm mostly attributing it to the actors (and even the showmakers/gmmtv) not knowing which direction to take and just winging it. So for all we know it could be a bl with an excellent romance. Or it could be an unlikely friendship blooming in the midst of adversity story. And ngl, i find the second one far more compelling. There's also the thing that I'd rather watch a kidnappee befriend a kidnapper (however reluctant a kidnapper he was/is) than they become romantic partners. I feel like it could be a much more beautiful meaningful relationship and story that way. But that could also just be the aro-ace in me talking :3

#thoughts have been thunk #hope this made some sense at least lol

[bengiyo]

Me, My Husband & My Husband's Boyfriend Eps 1 -5 Stray Thoughts

This is an unusual release schedule, giving us five episodes now and five more later. Still, I'm curious what TV Tokyo does with this, since they also gave me What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Episode 1

Man, Japan just really knows how to start a show. You can feel the strained optimism of this poor woman in just 30 seconds.

This has barely started and I feel claustrophobic. Misaki's friends have no idea how unhappy she is, and what is this incredibly pained look she shared only with Maki?

Oh, they may have been in lesbians with each other. This is already fraught queer angst.

Ah, it feels like it might have been just Maki.

You know someone is up to something when they fake sleep when their partner comes into the room.

That's right, girl. Blog your problems.

I tell you, I hoped I would avoid teen pregnancy when I was a teacher. I was wrong.

Poor Masaki. She and Yuki are just not in alignment when it comes to intimacy. Now she only has one day a year to look forward to for marital sex??

Nice use of Dutch angles when Masaki sees the kiss.

Episode 2

My goodness, this was an intense opening scene in how Misaki immediately starts to try to suppress everything and bargain her way into an explanation that doesn't spell the end of her marriage. Yuki doesn't lie, but he's already hurt her deeply.

I hope that's not the product placement we're throwing away.

I'm so sad about this nice dinner going to waste.

I agree with Misaki that what happens next with their relationship should be her choice, considering he's been making lots of choices without her for a while.

The coworker seems kind. She can tell that Misaki is masking.

Yo this old dude shoulder checked the fuck out of her.

I was not expecting to see Honda Kyoya again so soon after Jack o' Frost, but I'm not going to complain. However, if Shyuuhei is an artist like Ritsu was, this offers up a fascinating lens into a potentially alternative story.

It is correct of Misaki to put distance between a student who expresses romantic interest in her.

This is a lot. I feel for Misaki. Not only does she need to reckon with the fact that her husband is gay and seeing someone else. She also has to contend with it being her former student who still wants to be with her, who knows that he's been hooking up with her husband.

The transitional shot after Misaki's hyperventilating looks like it might be in the same spot as the intro for Midnight Diner.

Through sheer confidence and will alone, Shyuuhei is going to get both of them.

Misaki leaving to probably go to Maki is valid, though I feel bad for Maki, too.

Episode 3

I already like Daichi and the house dynamic Maki and he share.

I was kinda excited about what changing homes might do for Misaki, but I appreciate her wanting to clear things with Yuki first.

I wonder if Yuki might be aro-ace spectrum. Seems like he wasn't aware of his potential attraction to men before he married Misaki?

Honda Kyoya is honestly so pretty.

Look at this, TV Tokyo has me watching a man and woman kiss and such in BL when I got none of this in What Did You Eat Yesterday? They're even open mouth kissing when the men haven't done so! I'm salty!

And here I was hoping that it really was just a pregnancy scare. Now Satou hasn't been coming to school.

I'm gonna need Masaki to go out with this veteran teacher.

What is the truth with Satou!

Shyuuhei is with Satou, too? And he went in her raw? She said he was only a year older, so is he 19? GODDAMN

Someone is always spying and taking goddamn pictures! You just gonna anonymously meddle? Own your actions!

Episode 4

Trigger warnings: Discussion and prevention of suicide in this episode.

This is so messy. Shyuuhei has such a hold over Yuki, who doesn't desire his wife physically at all.

Daichi's family's apples are enormous.

What is she to do with all these apples?

Oh, Yuki, I really just can't with the continued lies. Something has to give.

Is the spy the other teacher who wanted to get a beer?

Well, Shyuuhei is way out of line, but he's not wrong about Misaki's marriage.

Ah, the spy was the other teacher, whose name is Misumi. At least she's confronting him with her qualms.

Interposing the conversation with Misumi and the interview with a woman talking about her gay husband's death makes the point loud and clear.

I think Honda Kyoya is well-cast here. He has an ethereal quality that I think works really well for Shyuuhei.

Wanting to disappear is a question I get on mental health surveys, and Shyuuhei seems way too comfortable talking about suicide.

Episode 5

Trigger warnings: Discussion and prevention of suicide in this episode.

I'm really glad we saw Honda Kyoya in Jack o' Frost first. I find myself wanting to dig into this performance just as much as I want to understand the character. Polyamory is hard; I don't think I'm built for it. I like how sympathetic they're making Shyuuhei feel through his earnestness, even if he's giving me red flags in so many other areas.

This scene of the first meet between Yuki and Shyuuhei is making me sad, because I don't think we've seen Yuki be this intent on Misaki.

Okay, taking them to a place to disconnect briefly is much better than where I thought this was going.

Misaki suggesting they all live together was an excellent scene. The way the camera pans through her dialogue from her being alone, to her and Yuki, to her and Shyuuhei, to finally all three of them works so beautifully. Then having her be nervous and struggling to crack an egg perfectly underscores her uncertainty.

I love Misaki. I'm glad we're letting her uncomfortable feelings come through clearly. This isn't the life she thought she was getting, but she's trying to make the best of a difficult situation.

Furukawa Yuki is so good. I remember again why Restart After Coming Back Home sticks with me as we see the range he's shown this episode.

I like the ground rules Misaki established. They don't realistically expect Shyuuhei to help with expenses now, but she wants to make sure he's contributing to the maintenance tasks and is at least working in his field.

Hotta Akane is also doing a great job. She completely performed the complex nervousness, relief, and bemusement she felt at seeing Yuki clearly relaxed in the house again for the first time in a while, and also the strange sense of attraction she felt at Shyuuhei expressing his feelings to her again.

Final Thoughts at the Midpoint

I think it was an excellent call to release this show in two batches. It's covering some complex emotional places that I don't think the audience would be able to take in stride each week for two months. Giving us the chance to go through this at our own pace and trying to connect with the characters feels like the right call.

I'm looking forward to the back half of this, and I find myself hoping that however they all end up, they all find what they need for their own sense of fulfillment.

#me my husband and my husband's boyfriend #japanese bl #bl series #tw suicide #Watashi to Otto to Otto no Kareshi #Ben watches

[thegaytoadwizard]

tagged by the wonderful @oldironteeth for 5 things that make me happy (in no particular order):

music: music has been a pretty integral part of my life for the longest time, starting with "musical early childhood education" ("musikalische Früherziehung") at around maybe 2-3 yo or so, then Glockenspiel lessons (moreso just learning the very basic fundamentals of music), then keyboard lessons from like 4-7 yo, piano lessons since then (10 years now, and I'm really happy with my progress, essentially being at the highest skill level non-professionals can normally achieve), organ lessons since maybe 2018/2019 and I even played my first full church service last sunday (ignore the fact that I'm pretty much a satanist, the music sounds nice if you don't read the text and no one sees you anyway, so might as well be on your phone during the sermon parts plus I'm getting paid. also a several meters tall instrument made of metal/wood pipes with at the very least 3 sets of keys that towers over an already spacious building is metal af), also I've been singing in my schools choir for the past ~7 years, picked up guitar by myself in nov 2022 and since a Kanonenfieber show last nov my growls finally work properly. Apart from that I love listening to music, mainly Black Metal, but I've also come to enjoy stuff like OSDM, Dungeon Synth, Doom and Noise. I haven't been able to go to many concerts (essentially only one festival, one Kanonenfieber show and one Bell Witch show), but I loved those I could go to. Also I'm currently planning to start a (rn only cover) band with a few friends/friends of friends to start playing some metal and that seems to be going somewhere for once

LotR: I read the trilogy in like 6th grade and even tho I haven't read that much else Tolkien (only The Children of Huin and The Fall of Gondolin I believe, plus I've been on-and-off with a copy of The Hobbit for like half a year) it has become somewhat of a comfort series, which also probably explains how much I adore all the high fantasy Dungeon Synth

my mum being supportive: I came out to her last june and since then she stopped saying "my [son/daughter]" instead just referring to me as her 'child' and it just feels really good that she's making an active effort to support me, no doubts or stupid questions. Additionally she's been semi-jokingly using 'es' (i.e. the German it/its, since there really is no equivalent of they/them) when referring to me while talking to me or my sister, which still kinda fits, considering it may make me sound like a goblin or sth, but I spend most of my freetime in my basement room with the posture of a shrimp anyway

havin a queer friend irl: technically I have several queer friends, but they align with my own identity a lot (nb/pan/possibly ace), plus that in general we're really close means that I can talk to them about most stuff, be it dysphoria, mental health or just venting

animanga: I have no clue why specifically these forms of media, but eh. my first anime was Noragami in early 2021, my first manga Jujutsu Kaisen in summer the same year, currently I tend to read more manga than I watch anime and my physical collection of manga stands at a good 214 volumes right now (counting omnibuses as one volume). bl also kinda helped me realise that I'm not straight, so that's a win in my book. currently infatuated with the Dungeon Meshi anime. (also I doubt anyone cares but I'm just putting this here)

tags, no pressure:

@mell-150 @parasite-2 @trans-ghostboi @wolven-maw @risottoeater @lilacdelilah

#finally doing this #ive had the tab open for like 10 straight days and just couldnt start with this jesus fuck #but this was nice to do #my mental states not been that great the last couple weeks so remembering the nice things helped #even if i had to think about it a bit #now thats a proper wall of text #also listen to ethereal shroud and/or caladan brood #no reason theyre just great bands

[gillianthecat]

SOTUS ep 3

ignoring context, i do love a good battle of wills between current enemies/future lovers

this I AM SPARTACUS scene 🥰 Rebel Alliance leader Kongpop, my beloved.

Arthit continues to speak absolute nonsense and I can't tell whether or not we're supposed to take it seriously as "wisdom"

"I think... you like me." Kongpop, light of my life, heart of my heart, I adore you. I can't believe he came out and said this already. This show is smashing together one of the most amazing characters of all time and one of the worst characters of all time. And honestly, Kongpop's amazingness is spilling over onto Arthrit a little bit and making him just a tad more appealing. If someone as forthright (to steal @bengiyo's word) and self-possessed as Kong sees something worthy in Arthit, it makes me believe that there is actually some there there, you know?

although again, is this genuine or weaponized flirting at this point? I'm not sure.

I'm keeping @clairificusrex's headcanon that Arthit is neurodivergent and ace in mind as I watch, and, as long as he isn't actively being a bully, it does help me see the character in a more nuanced light. I'll buy it.

big fan of these wide neck,deep v shirts they keep putting Kong in.

my girls! I still love them even if they're talking about crushes on our main boys. idk, something about them feels much more complex and real to me as compared to the university girls in a lot of other Thai BLs I've seen. it could be something as superficial as their makeup and hairstyling, which feels more "casual college kid" as opposed to "tv star" to me.

and look! we have a reference to the inciting incident of My Love Mix Up!

Arthit free and vulnerable in his own room! It was a wise choice to put them in dorms opposite each other so that Kong (and us) and see Arthit in a new light and become endeared by him. And for some reason, Kong is totally endeared by this bully grumpy cat. Ok, I admit it, I too am a bit endeared by Arthit sleepily hanging his laundry up.

Aw, poor May, she's got a big ol' crush on the boy who's nursing a crush on the bully grumpy cat. I hope she gets a good story in these 15 episodes of show. I have faith though.

I'm kinda thrilled that Hew was chosen as class president instead of Kong. I do love a good subversion of tropes.

oh there are adults at this university after all. and they'll intervene in this one case of a medical emergency, and yet are prefectly fine with this overall culture of hazing. that's the part of this show that actually pisses me off to be honest.

but I guess we have to keep putting Arthit in situations and making him all sad and pathetic if this romance is going to have any chance to take off. or at least any chance to earn the viewers' support.

oooh. the infamous pink milk appears! i did not realize its first(?) BL appearance was in the service of a conversation about masculinity, effeminacy and queerness. fascinating.

Kongpop, just what exactly do you see in this bully? As soon as I start to think maybe I could ship these two together, Arthit does some more petty tyrant shit. I do however love how Kong keeps flummoxing Arthit with basic politeness and courtesy. I approve of flummoxed love interests.

Well. I plan on continuing the show, but I feel like three episodes is the maximum dose for binging at any one time. That was a very high rate of power trips per hour.

*basically all i know about other people's thoughts on SOTUS comes from comments on this post by @waitmyturtles

#sotus #sotus ep 3 #kind of like liveblogging #gillianthecat reacts to bl #sotus the series