#oops I'm gay now

[jaylienpotter]

From @jegulus-microfic prompt "skirt" | 600 words

Part 1 of Let them be (can be read as a standalone)

Part 2 >

Let boys wear trousers

Regulus Black hated the Hogwarts uniform. Absolute despised it. He could hide his chest with spells or tight bras or bigger clothes - thankfully he had small breasts already. But he couldn't do anything about the bottom part. He had asked Dumbledore himself to wear trousers instead but he was denied, as it was "tradition" and "the school rules" and Ms. Black was probably "confused" - fucking prick.

He wasn't fully out. His friends knew and called him by the name he chose. So did Sirius and his mates. At first people slipped, calling him by his deadname and used she/her pronouns. It didn't last long, though. And thankfully it barely happened at all with his brother. None of their friends had a problem with it, thankfully. But it was still hard to connect to people. Fully connect.

Tears of frustration were running down his cheeks after he left the Headmaster's office.

"Black?" He looked to his left and faced a tanned Gryffindor with round glasses. Potter was Sirius's best friend. "Black, are you okay?" James got closer to the boy, his voice sweet and comforting, dark eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Dumbledore is a bloody fucking prick!"

"Regulus, what happened?" The people he was out to called him by his last name when in public, but they were close enough that others wouldn't hear.

"He won't let me wear trousers. Transphobe. It doesn't even make sense! Some girls don't like skirts! It's such a fucking stupid rule!"

"Hey…" two big hands rested on his shoulders and he looked up for the first time. "It's okay, we'll fix this somehow. I'll talk to Mcgonagall, she can convince that old man sometimes."

"You can try but it probably won't work…" Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Black pulled himself together. Like he was taught. "It doesn't matter. I'll be fine." That was a lie and they both knew it. Still no one said anything as he walked away.

Pandora was lovely. She did her best to cheer him up in the dorm but the fact that he was sharing with a girl brought him dysphoria. Regulus didn't belong there.

It's an understatement saying that he was shocked when he saw James Potter strutting confidently into the Great Hall for breakfast wearing a skirt. What the fuck was he doing?!

"Potter. Why in the name of Merlin are you wearing a skirt?! You're going to get detention!"

"See, Black, I am protesting. Until girls are allowed to wear trousers, I will be breaking the dress code." He blinked. Regulus blinked twice. His heart stopped and the way he saw his brother's best friend suddenly shifted. He was protesting for Regulus. Getting in detention for Regulus. Most likely would face hate, all for Regulus. Yet he was completely unfazed. Potter wasn't stupid. He knew what he got himself into. But still, he did it anyway?

"But… Why? I mean- where did you even get the skirt??"

"It's Mary's. And I felt like it. Occurred to me randomly. Was bored so I thought 'why not start a protest?', you know?" That was a big fat lie and the Gryffindor wasn't even trying to hide it. He wore a wide smirk on his face. Gosh, how Regulus wanted to kiss those lips. Instead he just smiled. His genuine curved down smile, a rarity.

"You're gonna get in trouble, you know that right?"

"Since when do I, James Potter, the king of mischief, care about that?" That grin again. Black could stare for hours, take in every detail of the handsome Gryffindor's face.

"You're an idiot."

#trans regulus #trans regulus black #marauders #marauders era #the marauders #marauders fandom #harry potter marauders #dead gay wizards #regulus black #james potter #jegulus #starchaser #sunseeker #Oops I'm too early for this prompt #Well... Now it's done #I got too excited ok?? #Now I have to finish this series #And then I can go on with the microfic jegulus prompts #I desperately need to write other ships #It's not even my favourite #I'm a Wolfstar stan

[0509-brainrot]

long time no 0509

bonus under the cut

live kotos reaction

#milgram #milgram project #mikoto kayano #shidou kirisaki #0509 #0905 #my art #you do not want to know how much time this took #i can count on one hand the amount of times i've drawn characters dancing #and every single time. suffering. agony. pain and death (worth it though <3) #“oh fun idea i'll just draw that real quick” 3 hours later i'm not even done with the lineart #my wrist hurts now orz (still worth it) #enjoy the food 0509 nation... apologies for my absence </3 #for the record mikoto almost drops shidou during that dip he's too gay for this and they're both in shock

[the-tired-commander]

It's the end of the year so here are some of my favourite screens and edits I made this year!

I've had a bit of a rough year this year, and I wanna say thank you to everyone who has been so lovely as I've gradually stepped back into the game. You've all been absolute delights and I hope the next year is kind to you <3

Happy new year!

#special mention to that sylvari anatomy post i made cause that was such fun to do #anyway i hope you all have a good year #you all deserve the best #also special shout out to my bf who i have dragged into gw #its been an absolute wonder this year and i love him very much #middle screen of the top row is damai holding its commander Ciar like a teddy bear and i think that's cute #okay i'm done being gay for now #love y'all! have a good year! be excellent! i know you already are but still! #oops meant to say middle screen of the third row is the one of damai hugging ciar

[emile-hides]

I need to write this down for me for my brain but I found the exact moment Laxus realized he’s in love with Freed and probably immediately asked him out very bluntly because he seems like the kinda guy to just say stuff like it’s no big deal and I’m putting it under the Read More because I screen capped a lot of stuff leave me alone

Episode 225 (Season 7, Episode 50) Lighting Man

There right there Laxus told Freed to contain the explosion, we Do Not see Freed move until after Laxus has launched his attack, and yet he still managed to write a protective inscription and contain the blast. “You’re quick on your feet, as always” says Laxus.

I say it’s this moment here is Laxus’ romantic awakening he was already aware he was gay but he just didn’t think he was really into anyone at the moment until right here and probably on their way back Laxus says very casually he and Freed should go out, giving the rest of the Thunder Legion a heart attack.

I take this as my proof because two episodes later is the first time we see Laxus acknowledging and even permitting Freed’s gentle romantic advances;

Episode 227 (Season 7, Episode 52) Morning of a New Adventure

“I’d be happy to scrub your back for you.”

“Huh? Sure. Why not.”

“You sure are in a good mood, Freed”

“Sure that has nothing to do with how close you are to Laxus.”

“Please let me work in peace”

“Rub it good, ya hear?”

“With pleasure!”

“Get every last inch of my body too” (in direct mirror to the Lesbian flirting they can hear over the wall from Flare Corona whomst I also love)

Oh my fuckin god these bitches fucking gay good for them good for them - Bickslow witnessing Laxus be affectionate for the very first time live

This is all to say up until this episode Laxus more than avoided Freed’s affections (though in my mind not on purpose I don’t think he really Got It) like turning him down for a dance at the King’s Banquet

and you know. Having on screen interactions like this

It took 7 and a half seasons but congrats Laxus and Freed are together finally.

#Fairy Tail #Laxus Dreyar #Freed Justine #wait shoot what's their ship name oop #I mean does it matter this anime came out in 2009 I'm posting screencaps of the 2014 season with English dub quotes #Anyway this is my stance and I'm sticking to it and I'm so happy for them FINALLY BOYS #My take on Laxus is he's smarter than the average Fairy Tail man but for equivalent echange he doesn't understand people like at all #Including himself he doesn't know his own emotions a good 80% of the time #Full of Autism that one #Me being nosy in my Grandson's love life #Bickslow my guy my dude I love your face please show it more unrelated to the gays your besties with lemme see your face my man #Also can I just say this was a suprisingly chill scene for a bath scene in a fanservice anime??? #Yeah they did the Girls comparing bust sizes joke all anime do #But also I got to see Warren and Flare and honestly it was very chill and we really only ever saw the girls shoulders up #So suprisingly tame for what Fairy Tail normally gives us #Considering in this season is when the slow pan of the Pin Up full pieces started for the outtros #..... #I'm reconizing now the reason I like Freed so much other than him being my favorite type of anime boy canonically Gay and Overthinks #Is that he makes the same In Love face as Juvia my dearest baby girl #The :> #Juvia's is more often :< #but same eyes and general vibe they are so stupid in love my god my god #Anyway this has been my Need to say words at a void post #Please keep sending me asks about Fairy Tail characters my brain is running miles with this program

[astrxealis]

got another person into granblue fantasy, an old friend B)

#⋯ ꒰ა starry thoughts ໒꒱ *·˚ #from SCHOOL !! we were just acquaintances before the pandemic but then uhmm #like last year...? suddenly started dming. fun! anyways super nice #oh i realize they are gay and trans too (as umbrella terms) im not as alone as i thought i was irl. nice <3 #yeah ... silly we haven't interacted irl yet we forgor how each other looks but also i found out today my friend in class from last year #remembers me as a friend and all uhm bcs my friend and her were talking about final fantasy... sniffs..... people remember me. wow #so yeah. and then uhm. yeah #THEY DID get into it sometime back but only now super properly i think... i won't be surprised if they don't get too into it though bcs time #and all lol! anyway right my dad uhhh..... oops.......... i forgor me and lune often have speeches relating to the lgbtq community #like the sogie bill should be passed or lgbtq struggles or stuff like that. same-sex marriage? #and they hear us very clearly. the walls are not very soundproof aha and once they were right inside. how fun #YEAH anyway my dad is hinting i think he'll support me and lune no matter what since we are family and idk he's cool i think #mom i'm worried about still but. yeah. i think i'll try to find the chance to come out to my aunt and maybe to her gay friend as well

[knifefightandchill]

What are your fav pairings?

Ahhh in general or fandom specific? Because I have /a lot/. xD Off the top of my head for resi is; leon/krauser, piers/chris, leon/ada, chris/wesker, and leon/chris!! I'm also really partial to leon/piers. and the strange au specific piers/krauser. ^^; and for a non resi ones off the top of my head there's ajay/jason (far cry 4 &3) , jason/vaas, and rick/michonne(twd).

if you want like thoughts on any pairings, even ones i didn't mention, or fandoms i didn't mention, i'm down to talk about that too!! sorry for the late response!

#i am so so late on this aaah i'm sorry!! #worst time for me to take a nap ahaaa #asks #as i'm writing these tags i'm remembering like a handful more lmao #honorable mention for destiel #because this is tumblr after all #that's a ridiculous amount of leon now that i'm looking at it oops #and a lot of gay

[crabussy]

you guys would not believe the convo I just had with some of the sys (sunny, circe, moon, phoebe, francis, martin and jon)

we were in the living room of headspace discussing what stuff we should do while on holiday and a fucking. disembodied brain??? floats into the middle of the room??? and just hovers there and we're all freaked the fuck out and it just. becomes a full nervous system and them it has muscles and skin and clothes and boom. it was phoebe. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY WOULD SHE. WHAT. WHY.

turns out she was just having fun fucking with the dream-physics of headspace. later in the convo she was suddenly an autism creature after a brief confetti explosion and then she turned her hair into hatsune miku's hair. wtf is wrong with this girl. also british people (jon and martin) joined the convo and started being GAY IN FRONT OF ALL OF US. GROSS (it was cute actually)

#it was a good convo!!! today is a good day in the system ((: everyones getting along for once and things arent as fuzzy as usual :D #jon and martin were being GAY. moon was just Sitting There. phoebe butted in a lot but its ok we love her #circe is actually much wilder than I thought??? I'm not too close with her but I assumed she wasn't that silly but turns out shes bonkers #I underestimated your clownery circe. im sorry #also I get!! really nervous talking about this on main! because I've had really scary rubbish encounters with fakeclaimers in the past etc #so I kinda feel anxious when talking about the positive parts of being part of a system #because everyone on r/fakedisordercringe believes that plurality is a traumatic nightmare 100% of the time )): #its hard!! its REALLY difficult and sucky being a system. #of course it is we're 24 people sharing one body and 23 of us can't even be acknowledged #etc etc. it sucks its a disorder #BUT its also just an alternate way of existing as a human!! we have fun we make friends we make fun of each other and have good times. #mostly. #WOW. RANT. OOPS. but I just want to say that I want to share my experiences as part of a nutty crew of morons... a ragtag band of misfits.. #I want to show you guys the positives. try and destigmatise this bitch!!!!! the negatives are there too and I will talk about them sometime #but for now. this was a really fun convo and I wanted to share it #robin shut up challenge #not gonna tag this as anything because I don't want anons telling me I'm making stuff up. #please trust me I've been told that dozens of times you really don't need to tell me #my professional psychiatrist/therapist believes I am a system. you are a stranger on the internet who has never met me. please refrain from #sending anons fakeclaiming #WOW I AM NERVOUS TODAY BOYS #dont be surprised if this post disappears

[anothermonikan]

I think the reason why the whole ‘Haha, Ayumu Yandere lolz’ thing annoys me is because it’s such a weird flanderisation of her whole character, like, In my original post I said that ‘having attachment issues != being a Yandere’ and I do stand by that, but I also think it annoys me because of how I interpret Ayumu’s whole character arc, which is definitely more of a personal thing but for me Ayumu’s character arc is about being a young lesbian, like, Ayumu so loves Yuu, and the jealousy and confusion that comes with feelings like those are just so relatable, and having Ayumu’s honest, raw, queer emotions being interpreted as a Yandere thing just weirds me out a bit?

Ayumu is jealous when other people hang out with Yuu and while that is a character flaw and something she needs to work on, it’s not a ‘Yuu must be mine and no one else should be allowed her grr’ thing and I don’t get how people are reading that from her, her whole thing is like ‘Yuu has always been the one to support me, so I don’t know how to feel when she offers that same thing to other people, I don’t want to lose Yuu to other people because I love Yuu and I need to hear that Yuu isn’t going to abandon me for someone else’ 

Ayumu’s character progression is so complex, like, the reason I love Nijigaku so much is because it’s core focus is on the characters, they did such a good job with Ayumu and seeing her character being awfully interpreted as a Yandere makes me wanna :violence:

#Like did you see Ayumu's face when she caught Yuu and Setsuna together? You can feel the confusion and betrayal she feels on her face #She couldn't deal with that but she didn't talk to anyone about it and then it just all fucking exploded in that bedroom scene #I think Ayumu's biggest thing is that she didn't communicate to Yuu that she needed reassurance from her #IK they probably won't explore that kind of thing now in season 2 but like. we still see Ayumu being jealous in season 2 #In the latest episode after Yuu.Shizuku.Setsuna.and Ayumu all hang out together Yuu and Ayumu spend time together by themselves #And I feel that kind of thing is the reassurance that Ayumu needs. That ferris wheel scene killed me off #because it was something only they did together and I think that's what Ayumu needs. and also Ayumu grabbing Yuu's hand but yknow I love gay #I'm rambling about gay idols again instead of sleeping oops #This post is probably a mess I shall post it and hope someone gets me #Love Live #Love Live Nijigaku #Love Love Nijigasaki #Android.txt

[zosonils]

i should take commissions again i have a lot of stuff to spend money on this year

#i never officially closed them but i haven't done any since i first opened them lol #would need to update my gallery and maybe prices anyway #i'm [hopefully] going on a trip with my friends at the end of the year and this might be the year me and cypress finally meet up #and i'm aiming to get tempo in a bigger permanent tank this year since she's growing real quick so gay baby jail is getting cramped #and i also really really want to get those fancy grind shoes and make me some sonic soaps but shoes expensive </3 </3 #but i probably need new shoes either way [i only wear one pair because autism and they are at death's door] so may as well get epic with it #oops this post turned into my new year's resolutions. whatever hitting send anyway because i like that they're actually written down now

[inkskinned]

it's just that there's a few more steps you have to take that other people don't have to take, but they don't see the steps, so they think you should be able to hop from moment to moment, a chickadee.

it isn't getting out of bed. it is the weight, the hook in your chest, the anchor. you have to move the anchor first. you have to silence your alarm, but your phone is in your hand, which means now you have to put the phone down, which is too-hard. you get stuck in there for a while, the white screen, mindlessly scrolling. you don't even like this activity, have tried a few other options but - here you are, and time is passing.

you've googled iron deficiency causes depression and if i drink enough water does it help with mental illness and anxiety but no caffiene within the last two weeks, like how you googled am i gay quiz at 17.

it isn't just calling the doctor back, it's the anxiety, it's these little moths in your lung cavities, furious and fluttering. you need to figure out how to capture your fingers from between their nervous bodies. you are an adult, you can say the words yes hi, i'm calling because i need - but you need to practice first. maybe write it down because what if you misspeak, wouldn't that be embarrassing. write it down, but you need to find a pen first. well, actually, your desk is kind of messy. you should get a new pen. you should get a new organizational system. you should try journaling.

your grades in school were always strange. the way teachers would say things like it feels like you're not trying. you could touch stars in the stuff you cared about. well, sometimes. god be willing. homework average zero. oops! your english teacher's wrinkled brow: i know you know this stuff. what the fuck are you doing?

it isn't the showering, it's the mirror before the shower and the soft horrible pull of your naked physique. you have to avoid eye contact completely or else it'll be 93 minutes later and you'll have picked at your skin until every little pore is bleeding. you have to stand up but standing is tiring and also you should have remembered to buy more soap but you never remember anything. maybe get out of the shower and while it's still running and you're still dripping wet, use your phone to take a note. make a note to get your groceries. let the shower run while you stand half-in half-out and get lost in your phone for a moment. come back out when the water runs cold and now you have to sprint to get ready.

your grandmother's frown. you're just being lazy. protestant work ethics in a house that isn't even protestant. she says she just learned different but she means learned better, doesn't she.

it's not that you can't send the email, it's that your hands have been hurting lately and the desk really is messy and also why the fuck would you even care about this thing? doesn't everyone else feel like they're drowning? hi brendon thanks so much for sending! will review and get back to you shortly. but now you're on the internet, close the tab with tumblr on it. go on, close it. feel the little soft vapor of boredom come up and over your eyeteeth and make everything overwhelming and itchy.

literally all you have to do is put on shoes to go outside. you're literally already dressed, that's the hard part of this whole thing. literally just put the shoes on. just... do it! do it! this shit is easy!

it's literally that easy. just stop taking all those stupid invisible steps. stop following your strange made-up rules. times like this, even you're positive you're faking. you just don't want to bother with the cleaning and the cooking and the being-an-adult.

but then - shouldn't you be able to put these stupid shoes on? nobody's even looking. go on kid. life is out there! just take the leap!

get moving.

#spilled ink #writeblr #warm up

[neil-gaiman]

This will sound confrontational but its a genuine question, I promise. Why is it ‘embarrassing’ to wonder about the sex lives of these characters? GO is not a childrens book or show as far as i know, the characters are not underage, unable to consent, related, cheating, canonically asexual or any other thing that would make them having sex even remotely reprehensible or anything like that. They literally get called husbands every single day on this app and im sure you’re well aware people are very much writing about them having sex constantly so I’m just wondering. Is it just the word choice? If someone had asked when az and crowley ‘made tender consensual love’ instead, would there be less actual harrassment in their inbox right now? Or is it just very bad and wrong to discuss gay sex… ok maybe it is confrontational after all. oops

I think you might have misread or misconstrued what I wrote, when I said "I feel a bit embarrassed for the people sending them when they come through, but nothing more than that". My embarrassment is over what people think is appropriate to send as messages to the author, not over whatever they want to speculate about. They have the whole of Tumblr, not to mention AO3, to ponder, imagine and discuss anything they like about any and all things in the stories, including sex, gay and straight. But sending stuff like that to me is just inappropriate... it's like watching someone turn up to a school meeting drunk, or watching someone trying to tell dirty jokes to an audience that wishes they'd stop. I'm the wrong audience, and it makes me embarrassed on their behalf.

Every now and again, in the Asks, someone will write apologizing for something they sent in years before, which they've now realized was inappropriate -- or which they always knew was inappropriate and they've grown enough as people to apologize. And enough of those messages have come in over the years that I'm never upset at receiving inappropriate asks. Just embarrassed for the people sending them, and hoping they don't beat themselves up too badly when they figure out, as many of them seem to eventually, that perhaps that wasn't a very sensible thing to do.

[eddiezpaghetti]

It has come to my attention that SOME OF YOU who read my last Byler post remain UNCONVINCED. So I'm gonna tack onto it this:

I'm older than fucking God and air, and I've been out and proud since 2007. Yes, I know what homophobia is, and yes, I know what queerbaiting is. I know about Supernatural and Teen Wolf and Sherlock and blahdyblahdyblah. No new ground is being covered here. I thought I made that clear in the original post, but, clearly, I did not.

I am aware of queerbaiting and homophobia, and I'm still wholeheartedly certain in Byler being canon anyway.

Okay, so there are three types of relationship I want to discuss when it comes to queerbaiting. They're all, like, "queer relationships that could have happened, but didn't".

First off, queer-coding. This isn't really a thing so much anymore, but it still crops up every once in a while. I'd argue it probably happens most with male-male relationships in family shows these days. First example that comes to mind is Mr. Smiley and Mr. Frowny from Steven Universe. You can't make a relationship canon because some shitty overhead bastard overhead said no, so you get as close as you can without compromising the show. Can't make someone gay? Well, now their comedy routine is a blatant allegory for a romantic relationship. Boom-shaka-laka. This is something I don't see being a problem with regards to Stranger Things, but I want it to be there as contrast, a demonstration of one of many things queerbaiting is not. However, one could argue that, thus far, Will Byers is, canonically, queer-coded. It's pretty fucking heavily implied in the show, and the creators have confirmed it, and you're gonna be able to see it if you're not FUCKING BLIND, but word of god is not technically canon which means that interviews don't technically make something canon, blahdyblahdyblahdyblah, technicalities, Robin has been explicitly stated in the text to be queer while Will has, thus far, not, outside of good ol' Show-Don't-Tell. Of course, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell that that's going to change by the end of Season 5, but, hey, for what it's worth, I'm throwing this out there.

Alrighty, Thingamajingama Number Two: "Oops, I accidentally made the greatest love story known to man." AKA, a genuine, honest-to-goodness mistake. Unfortunately, we do live in a heteronormative society. Sometimes people who don't think about being gay much write a friendship that's incredibly compelling and don't even consider the possibility that it could have been read as romantic. Something something Top Gun something. This is, again, not queerbaiting. This is Steddie, this is Ronance, this is Elmax, this is your favorite flavor of non-canon ship this week, this is not Byler. The creators know DAMN well what they're doing. They've talked about it. We know this. Nothing new here.

Which brings us to the topic of discussion here. Actual queerbaiting. This usually starts out as an "accidental greatest love story", and then reacts to fan response. And when I say "reacts", I mean like a goddamn chemical reaction. Like bleach and ammonia, bitch. It's noxious and it's gonna kick your fucking ass without mercy. This is when a creator is like, "Hey, let's get our queer audience invested, but we're not actually going to give them what they want because our straight audience isn't here for that/we personally think it's gross/we don't give enough of a shit to want to research a goddamn thing to write a real gay character," blah blah blah whatever excuse they want to come up with this time.

And when you think "queerbaiting", I want you to think "bullying". Because that's what it is. It's lucrative bullying, like beating us up and taking our lunch money, but it's bullying all the same. And it's a real goddamn thing, even if people misuse the word a lot, often when they mean one of the two above, sometimes when they mean "bury your gays", which is another homophobic thing entirely that I'm not going to get into here. Queerbaiting is the thing we're focused on, and it's real, and it's bullying. And here's the reason I want you to think of it as bullying:

They

Think

It's

Funny.

They are actively making fun of us.

That's why Dean had the "Cas, get out of my ass," line in Supernatural. It's why the "Do you like boys?" line happened in Teen Wolf. It's why "Lie with me, Watson," happened in the RDJ Sherlock Holmes movies. Because "It's just a joke, mate." "It was just a prank, bro." "You didn't really think it would happen, did you?" "You should see your face."

So here's probably the biggest reason I don't think it's specifically queerbaiting in this specific instance of Will Byers and Mike Wheeler.

Stranger Things has never, not once, made a gay joke. Ever.

Every single time queerness comes up, it's dead serious.

Lonnie calls Will a fag, and the show is not at all reluctant to show what a goddamn horrible person he is. And when Hopper latches onto that, it's not as "Hahah, is he gay, though?" It's because he's trying to determine a potential motive for Will's disappearance, and even if someone had interpreted it as a joke, Joyce immediately has a line that functions as snapping her fingers in front of the audience's face and yelling "FOCUS" when she says "He's MISSING." Basically outright saying "This isn't funny!"

Troy calls him a fairy, along with targeting Lucas and Dustin for their skin color and disability respectively, and Mike gets damn near murderous. Troy is portrayed as a goddamn monster and the show portrays it as justice when El makes him piss his pants and later breaks his arm.

Steve calls Jonathan "queer" as a slur and gets the shit beat out of him for it.

Billy's father is revealed to be homophobic and abusive in the same breath.

Mike says "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" and we're shown how devastated Will is and Mike immediately follows him to beg for forgiveness.

There is a joke in Robin's coming-out scene, but it's not at Robin's expense. It's at Steve's. Specifically for being heteronormative.

Jonathan has multiple scenes where he's trying so hard to tell Will that he's always going to love him as he is, whether he's gay or not, without pressuring him to come out before he's ready.

Even when there's a little bit of ribbing at Robin's expense, it's always because she's an awkward nerd who's nervous around pretty girls, just the same as Lucas and Dustin are teased when they both first develop crushes on Max, and even then, even then, it always comes as a package deal where they make fun of Steve's girl problems at the same time.

Stranger Things is an emphatically pro-gay show. It may not be the core point of the show the way it is in, say, Our Flag Means Death, but there is nothing less than respect for its queer characters. Its queer characters are always taken completely seriously. No one is making fun of us. They never have. That's why I have serious doubts that this is queerbaiting. It would come completely out of left field for the bullying to start in Stranger Things' final season.

So it's not at all likely to be queerbaiting because queerness is taken completely seriously. The creators have talked about Will's queerness, at least, so it's not an accident. And queer-coding would be silly to expect from this show when it's already on its final season. Like, what is Netflix gonna do? Cancel it? Not to mention all the explicit queerness that's in there already. And no one's gonna "What about the children?" a show that's had sex scenes in it since the first season.

There's no fakeout here. It's gonna happen. Breathe.

#byler #Part 2 I fucking guess. #Wasn't planning on making a Part 2 but here we are. #I seriously just want you guys to feel safe. #I'm not naive. I do not say any of this shit lightly. #But I've been around the block long enough to know what queerbaiting looks like and this ain't it. Promise. #Will's already been confirmed as in love with Mike for fuck's sake. You don't think the other half of the equation's gonna follow through? #There has only ever been one other situation where I've gone 'Okay this is going in gay places' with no doubt whatsoever without being told #And that was with Daja in Tamora Pierce's 'Will of the Empress' when I read it at like sixteen or whatever #and she wound up having whole-ass fuckin' gay sex. #I was right then and I'm right now. I swear.

[demilypyro]

It makes me so happy to see you happy, I remember first finding you like 10 years ago when we were both incredibly depressed and needing to make big changes in our lives to get better. I'm glad we both found what we needed to be happy.

I'm a self-employed gay woman now oops

[sincerelystesichorus]

let's talk about that one scene in oops

(and fizzarolli in general bc me and my autism r obsessed with this scene and haven't seen someone break it down. also ft. blitz lmao)

just a general scene and vague character breakdown/analysis!

i first of all want to admire the perfect representation of best friends to enemies with blitz & fizz because ugh.

And like Blitz tells everyone this but the way it's so malicious here. Just the perfect simple dig and Fizz's little shit eating grin because it delivered how he knew it would sdfkjsdkf. Shoves Blitz to the side because really that's all he cares to say. Fuck you and what you did to me, bye bye <3 Fizz is so for talking shit and dipping (House of Asmodeus) I love how messy it is but also shows how he really doesn't hold malice for Blitz otherwise. Obviously we see this front and center later in the episode once they start reconnecting, but I like the subtlety and how he's so willing to snap at Blitz despite his usual anxiety with confrontation.

Blitz also knowing exactly what to say to really piss Fizz off once things escalate <3

(Fizz literally so smug and content with himself lmfao)

(smirk wiped off bc hey that's the thing i'm sensitive about!!)

But Fizz keeps his composure. And if you'll let me be alarmingly gay for a second, I love how his version of keeping his cool as a messy gay is managing to basically recreate this drag race confrontation in what is probably my favorite set of Fizzie lines.

eat him up babes. also it's so important that that shitty coffee and fizz were on this side of the street for framing i'll talk about it more in a sec jfskjdfksf.

and now my personal favorite exchange of this entire scene that is criminally underrated imo:

love his face after this line. I SUPPORT DISABLED PEOPLES WRONGS sfjdlkfsdd. literally so fucking nasty with his clown wit but also so justifiable because yeah blitz did just pull this nightmare and dip in fizz's pov. i cannot wait for that to get touched on more likeeee why were they kept apart ugh.

and finally!!

this cut to blitz,, specifically the scarred side of his face is sooo good.

the face of a man who just achieved critical vicious mockery vs. the face of a man that knows he can only win this interaction one way now

Blitz does deserve a little violence maybe <3 Fizz underestimated his ass jjdkfsdlk.

Idk I just love how indicative this whole interaction is for their characters but especially Fizz, it's a perfect build-up for him. Fizz has major imposter syndrome with dual layers because of general haters but especially because of Mammon and Asmodeus. Not on any fault of Ozzie's,, we just see Fizz obviously thinks he isn't fully deserving of their relationship/his situation and the healthy dynamics of it and so do most major news outlets apparently askjfsk.

(full fizzy meme post & also i like how this is a special also like damn do u think they were also apart of the crossword??)

It'll be really interesting to see how his character develops in future episodes because I feel like a lot of what I've rambled about here has come to a resolution after 2 Minutes Notice in the musical special lmao. I really like how here when he goes to compose himself, this is how he does it.

Makes me wonder how many times him and Ozzie have had the self-worth and imposter syndrome conversation before it finally stuck in the Mammon Musical Special. I just love their relationship and how they compliment one another,, and how it projects into Fizz's other relationships because they're healthy for one another. Love my OTP love Blitz & especially love Fizzie. Obviously.

#long post #words words words #character analysis #character essay #helluva boss #fizzarolli #fizzarolli helluva boss #blitzø #helluva boss blitzo #fizzmodeus #fizzarozzie #bless any1 that reads this whole thing love u #helluvaboss #qb #qb writes

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

I want their first kiss to be awkward as fuck and a complete accident. Maybe they're trying to move around the kitchen and trying to get past each other. Oops! They slip and fall. Eddie falls on top of him, his lips crashing to Steve’s. They both freeze for a moment. Their lips were still attached, but they're weren't moving. Neither one of them has kissed a guy. Well, there was that time Steve and Tommy practiced kissing when they were younger, but that didn't count because neither one of them were gay. Eddie was still on top of Steve. Why was neither one of them moving away?

"Steve," Eddie muttered against his lips.

That's what stirred Steve into doing something. He placed his hand on the small of Eddie's back. He started moving his lips against Eddie's, and he wondered if it was just instinct to kiss someone when their lips were pressed against his. Steve closed his eyes and moaned as Eddie started to kiss him back. Excitement shot through him as they kissed, Steve’s hands moved down his sides, grasping Eddie's thighs to adjust him so he was sitting better on top of him. Eddie groaned as hips were pressed closer to Steve’s and rocked his hips a bit, smirking at the noise Steve made. Steve opened his mouth with a gasp, allowing Eddie to slip his tongue inside. Steve growled and flipped him over, slotting his leg in between Eddie's.

"I don't what's taking so long with the goddamn drinks," Robin muttered as she looked at Vickie while entering the kitchen. "What they'd do? Get lost?"

Vickie moved towards the fridge, getting a good view of Eddie and Steve making out behind the island.

"Oh my god!" Vickie exclaimed. "I thought you said they weren't dating."

"What? Steve and Eddie? No, I'm pretty sure Steve hates Eddie a little, considering the way he stares at him," Robin said.

"Baby, I don't think it was hate," Vickie said.

"What?" Robin asked and stepped closer to the fridge to see what she was looking at. "Hmm, no, I guess not. Jesus, they haven't even noticed us. Do you think they can even hear us?"

"I think we should leave," Vickie replied.

"Or we can start throwing things at them. Ooh! Better yet, let's stick things down the back of Steve’s pants and see how long it takes him to notice," Robin said.

"Robin!" Steve exclaimed as he broke the kiss.

Meanwhile, Eddie's hands slipped down the back of Steve’s pants. Steve yelped.

"Yeah. There's no room, anyway. That man fills out those jeans," Eddie grinned as he squeezed before pulling out. "Hands fit perfectly, though."

"Something you want to share with the class, Steve?" Robin asked as Steve sat up, straddling Eddie's waist.

"I don't think I'm very straight," he admitted.

"I picked up that memo, big guy," Robin said. "How do you feel about it?"

Steve’s happy but bashful grin was all that Robin really needed to know. Eddie sat up.

"Hm, so, what does that make us?" Eddie asked.

"I don't know. I just figured out that I liked guys. Do we have to figure it all out right now?" Steve asked.

"No, not at all," Eddie said, breathing a sigh of relief. "We can take this as slow as we both want to."

Steve climbed off of him and helped him up. Still holding his hand, he moved towards the fridge to get the sodas. Steve giggled. Happy accidents really did happen.

#stranger things #eddie munson #stranger things s4 #joseph quinn #eddie stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson lives #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #bisexual eddie munson #bisexual steve harrington #bi4bi #robin buckley #lesbian robin buckley #robin & steve #platonic stobin #platonic soulmates #platonic with a capital p #platonic reddie #stranger things vickie #bisexual vickie #robin x vickie #rovickie #rockie #stranger things fanfiction #rueleigh's thoughts #that turned into fanfiction #rueleigh writes

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 鬓边不是海棠红/Winter Begonia

Winter Begonia is the tale of the intertwined lives of a wealthy, westernized businessman and a bratty, dramatic Peking Opera performer as they navigate the historical landscape of 1930s China.

It is a slow historical ramble of a show, to the point where I couldn't really say it has a single plot. Events just happen in their lives, and the show follows them with a pleasant steadiness. Characters go away, and sometimes they come back. Interpersonal conflicts rise and then get resolved. Sometimes you just get to sit and watch part of an opera happen. The last third of the show develops a slightly more cohesive narrative, but even then, it's still mostly a loose constellation of events related to larger goings-on in the culture.

So if you're looking for tight plots and fast-paced action, you'll want to look somewhere else. But if you're the kind of person who likes to wrap up sometimes in a gentle warm blanket of a beautiful show, I have five reasons you should give this one a try.

1. Oh, they're in love

Perhaps the most notable thing about Cheng Fengtai and Shang Xirui is that they spend the entire show smiling at one another, staring longingly at one another, and/or making each other laugh.

A lot of danmei couples depend on having at least one partner who, if not outright tsundere, is at least stoically long-suffering -- which is romantic, sure, but also exhausting in real life. These two read about as married as any danmei pair I've ever seen because they make one another smile all the time. They're incredibly touchy and affectionate from basically the moment they meet. They're not just in love, they actually like one another.

Now, don't get me wrong: These two are both absolute exhausting gremlins who deserve one another so they don't have to be anyone else's problems. But they're good-natured enough about their respective gremlin natures that when one of them lets loose with his rascality, the other tends to think it's hilarious.

They don't even have the mandated danmei breakup! They're never mad at one another for more than the length of an episode. Most of the time they're just refreshingly normal about one another (or, you know, about as normal as two drama queens can be). And when they're being not normal about one another, it's because the circumstances they are currently enduring are not normal either.

They're so in love that by the time you get to the last episode, everyone in their lives is like, gee, those two sure are in love. For the main couple in a Chinese-censored BL adaptation? That's pretty darn in love.

2. The costumes!!!

Of course I have to gush over the costumes. Several major characters are professional opera performers, and their wardrobes are just stunning in complexity and detail -- and accuracy, apparently.

But they're not even where all of the wardrobe budget went! Everyone looks great, from the dapper upper class to the household servants to the street performers.

I also can't get over how everyone looks so cozy in their winter outfits. The show really wants to hammer home how cold Beijing is, and so most non-opera clothes are either heavily quilted or furry. Not a single outfit in this show is slimming (except maybe for some of the gorgeous gowns Cheng Meixin wears). It's all about conserving body heat, which means a lot of people walk around basically wearing mildly tailored quilts all the time. I love it. I envy it.

3. Oops! All bottoms!

This is a show of very soft men. It helps that very many of them have spent their whole lives playing female roles, but even those that haven't tend to be pretty darn soft.

(And I'm not even talking about the way people keep handing Cheng Fengtai babies and he loves it.)

Du Luocheng and Shang Xirui are absolutely what happens when you get two soft gay guys who are kinda into one another, but they're both too lazy to top, so they just become best friends instead.

Fan Lian stands as a testament to how you can be the only heterosexual in the show and still be soft as hell.

The old married gays. Softness level: off the charts.

Chen Renxiang's role is that of the opera frenemy, and he's incredibly soft about it. (This actor is also apparently in the Sha Po Lang live-action adaptation! Maybe someday it will be released...)

Opera underling La Yuehong hardens up later in the show, but even when he does, there's still a tragic softness to it.

Even the baddies are soft! Pretty much all the rival opera bitches fall into the "love to hate" category -- and nearly all of them win at least some sympathy from you before they leave the story for good.

There's one more soft boy whose presence surprised me, and that is Xue Zhicheng/Kujo Kazuma, a sympathetic Japanese character. Every other Japanese character in the show is sinister somehow -- not surprising, considering the drama is set during the brutal Japanese occupation of Beiping/Beijing.

But this little guy is a gentle, well-meaning opera fan who just wants to watch his favorite performers! When his actions cause trouble, it's only because he's so well-meaning that he couldn't see how anyone could disapprove of his attempts at cross-cultural undertanding. He even comes to the rescue a few times, at significant personal cost!

Moreover, the show uses him to make it clear that there's a difference between the Japanese occupying force and Japanese people and culture. In fact, the show is pretty critical of people who conflate the two and use interest in the latter as evidence of support of the former. That is not a level of nuance I've seen from other dramas set in this time period, and I was pleased to see it.

In conclusion, the critial war shortage in 1930s Beijing was not food or medicine or ammunition, but tops.

4. A whole lotta ladies

Again, not even counting the fact that one of the two main guys, many of his buddies, all of his heroes, and several of the antagonists professionally dress as women.

The most notable of them is Cheng Fengtai’s wife, Fan Xiang'er. They've been married for years by the time the show starts, and they have a son together. Theirs is an arranged marriage that they've managed to make work so well that they've actually wound up liking one another ... most of the time. Remember what I said earlier about his being exhausting? She knows that better than anyone.

(Sidebar: If you are uncomfortable with a love story where one of the participants is canonically married to someone else, this may be one you want to skip. That said, there are several male characters in this show who have multiple wives and/or mistresses, so the metric of what counts as infidelity in this setting is ... loose.)

Beyond her, though, there are many more female supporting characters in this show, from all different socioeconomic levels, in all different kinds of situations.

A caveat: Some of the women (one in particular) are at times frustrating as hell because they're too often written as jealous shrews who believe all the terrible gossip they hear and act on it without having actual adult conversations with anyone first. I dislike this trope, mostly because it relies on making some smart women artificially very stupid for the sake of forwarding the plot. I have little patience for situations that could have been solved five episodes ago if somebody had just been willing to ask clarifying questions.

That said, I can't be too mad about that, because there are many, many more women who are not written like that. Some of them are good and loyal! Some are sneaky and self-interested! Some are callous and manipulative! Some are meek and traumatized! Some make terrible decisions! Some make terrible decisions but, like, you get it! You know, just like in real life?

The answer to better representation is almost always more representation. When a character is the only one of whatever they are, everything they do is kind of an indictment of that category, especially when that category has a history of stereotypical negative representation. When there are several others, the characters stop being representatives of that category and start being just plain characters.

5. It just feels good to watch

Don't misunderstand: This is not a happy fun time show where everything in sunshine and roses all the way down. There are plenty of tense and emotional parts. Not everyone we like makes it out of the drama alive. Not all love stories get a happily ever after. People disappoint one another all the time. Awful things happen when soldiers occupy civilian populations. Poverty is a bitch.

But the show itself remains a nice viewing experience. It's absolutely a feast for the senses, what with all the music and costumes and sets and props and old-fashioned cars and everything.

The story is very straightforward. It's never trying to do any complex schemes or mislead you before some big reveal. I imagine this could be a good show to put on in the background while you're doing something else. You're never going to be too desperately confused about what's going on if you zone out for a minute -- and if you are, just hang on for a bit, because by next episode, it'll probably be onto whatever storyline comes next.

I have not read the novel, and I cannot judge anything against its standards. However, my friend who has read parts of the novel tells me that the adaptation is much preferable, because in the novel, you get to hear everyone's internal narration -- and everyone's internal narration makes it clear they're all bratty, insufferable assholes. That is not the case here! Or, rather, they are often bratty and/or insufferable, but from outside their heads, it's a lot more charming.

Finally, it's legitimately a very good love story. Shang Xirui is the only person in Cheng Fengtai's life who loves him for who he is, not what someone else needs him to be. Cheng Fengtai goes from being enraptured by this beautiful little weirdo to basically wanting to wife him. They spend a lot of time taking care of one another, sometimes in the only ways they know how. They're capable of operating independently -- there are several episodes where their storylines diverge completely -- but they'd prefer not to. They've just each found their soulmate, and that's all there is to it. (The red thumbprint in the palm is about the most romantic thing I've ever seen.)

I'm a little surprised by how little I hear English-speaking fandom talk about this one, especially since (see below) it's a widely available, high-budget show that even has a Shang Xirui figurine, and there's no question about how in gay love these two are. But if you hop over to AO3, there's only 257 works total in the Winter Begonia tag, a scant 57 of which are in English, and if you've tried looking into the Winter Begonia tag on Tumblr, you know it's pretty quiet 'round here.

I can't be sure, but I'd assume that's partly because this is both a) a relatively low-stakes drama, and b) so enmeshed with actual historical events and concepts that you'd have to do at least a baseline amount of research before making any fan media. I would imagine that for some folk, this is a barrier to entry.

And it is 49 slow, gentle episodes long. I saw Tumblr posts asking which episodes are important, because the posters don't want to or can't commit to watching the whole thing. But the answer is ... all of them? none of them? There's no plot you'd be getting or missing with specific episodes. There are very few things I can think of that would even qualify as spoilers. It's just a walk through a couple very eventful years in the main pair's lives. I understand if folk aren't up for that, but if you are, this is really a gem.

Have I convinced you to give it a try?

I would say that Winter Begonia is perhaps the most easily watchable of any c-drama I've come across. Here's where you can find it:

iQiyi

Viki

Amazon Prime

YouTube

We watched most of it on YouTube, where the subs were perfectly fine. However, there was one episode where we had to switch platforms because the English subs were all out of synch, so we went to Amazon and they were fine there too. Other than that, I don't really have a sense of which translation experience is the best. Try them all!

(PS: If you feel like putting on a tinfoil hat, I'm just going to say, they look at one another like that in real life, too.)

#winter begonia #i made this #鬓边不是海棠红 #rec post