I thought, this is the most incredible thing I have ever seen, and I had better keep it a safe distance away from me. I thought, if someone like that ever loved me, it would set me on fire.
Oxford Days is one of my favorite fics ever, but since I joined the Fandom only last September, I need to know what was the Insta story that inspired the fic. 👀👀
Hiiii, OMG, that is so nice of you to say!! 🥰 I can't get enough of how much people love that fic, it is one of my favourite things ever.
Ok, so CMQ's story was this:
Obviously my body chemistry was altered on that day and I haven't know peace since, just thinking of everything slutty Henry would have gotten up to. Henry, the same guy who held himself back so hard through his relationship with Alex, letting loose and having fun? SEXY FUN? It heals me 🫠
I dropped a little reference to his slut phase in chapter (*checks notes*) 6 of Deep Blue and then realised it wasn't enough and I needed more slutty Henry. I came up with the opening lines for Oxford Days while cooking dinner (and they have remained unchanged since) then wrote the whole thing in one night, in a total frenzy.
Here is my original tumblr post (with this pic below the cut) and here's the ao3 link for anyone who wants check this baby out. 6k of slutty fun 😘
And I'm about to go edit the fic and add a link to this so no one else is left wanting ever again!
So Long, London by taylor is actually Henry talking to his grandmother and leaving London to go live in New York
(I mean, Henry tried so hard to do it right, he killed himself inside, pushed away all happiness, because his birthright was a country, not happiness. He stayed in the closet, he kept quiet, he kept enduring the abuse until he couldn’t anymore)
My spine split from carrying us up the hill
I stopped trying to make him laugh / Stopped trying to drill the safe
I left all I knew, you left me at the house by the Heath / I stopped CPR, after all it's no use / The spirit was gone, we would never come to / And I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free
I'll find someone... / And you say I abandoned the ship / But I was going down with it / My white knuckle dying grip / Holding tight to your quiet resentment
Just how low did you think I'd go? / Before I'd self-implode / Before I'd have to go be free
And I'm just getting color back into my face / I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place (Henry “English major” Fox, Henry who knows so much about Britain’s queer history and authors, but than anyway, he’ll always be the prince of it, the place will always be tainted, even if he doesn’t hate England; because how could he, he suffered for it, he kept quiet for it, the people don’t want a gay prince his grandmother said; it’ll always remind him of everything than happened there, and all he went through for it, even after abdicating, still)
^ Casey McQuiston author of Red White and Royal Blue via Threads
I've always seen comments about how a "woman" wrote a mlm novel, and since the movie is on its way, we'll probably see that more often. Just a reminder to not misgender Casey. They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns!
No matter your thoughts on them as a person or author its important to remember that gender identity is not a trophy to be earned!
The truth is every queer person has the right to come out on their own terms, and on their own timeline. They also have the right to choose not to come out at all. The forced conformity of the closet can not be answered with the forced conformity in coming out of it.
This isn’t about shame. This is about privacy and the fundamental right of self-determination which are exactly the principles on which the struggle for queer liberation has always been fought.
- Red, White, & Royal Blue (2023 / Matthew Lopez, Casey McQuiston)