#rwrb social isolation

[meraki-yao]

RWRB Movie Analysis: Henry's Seclusion and Perception-Part 2

A little follow-up of this post after I realized something while watching Henry flinch after Alex tried to hold his hand during their Paris date.

This is more up to interpretation but in the same way Henry was isolated in a space without any sort of moral support during the week after the email leaks while Alex wasn’t, I think the same could be possibly said with their view on public displays of affection.

I’m gonna preface by saying that even in the RWRB Movie verse, both UK and USA are evidently mostly LGBT+ friendly. Alex’s US kind of goes without saying, while for Henry, given the sheer amount of people that ended up coming to support him all across the country, I think the same could be said for his UK.

So given that their big environment is LGBT friendly, the difference here is their own circles.

Before President Claremont was elected, Alex was just like any of us, as he put it himself, “an anonymous working class kid”. His socializing circle wasn’t really limited. On top of that both of his parents are democrats. Even before he figured out his own bisexuality, he was definitely exposed to LGBT communities and individuals, colourful queer people who showed off their gender, sexuality and relationship/partner proudly. Besides, from his interaction with Nora, his mom, even Henry during the NYE party, Alex is clearly a physically affectionate person to begin with. He is used to displays of affection, and has see queer public displays of affection.

So when he starts to fall for Henry (which I firmly believed started properly since the state dinner), he doesn’t really register displays of affection as something to be hidden despite now being in a homosexual relationship. This aspect is not that different in his mind. The only times we see Alex really make an effort to conceal it is when they want to… do dirty things, like the polo match (Matthew/Prime release the full scene please) and the DNC hotel visit, which in any case is something that one would make effort to hide even for a bit.

Look at the movie again. Alex reaches out to hold Henry’s hand in Paris, Henry flinches. Alex steps forward to kiss Henry at the airstrip after the night in the V&A, Henry stops him, even if it’s private airstrip with only Henry’s staff. The one sentence Alex said that sent Henry spiralling and trying to break things off was “We could walk through Austin holding hands, and it won’t even matter if anyone sees us.” (which is one of my favourite lines in the book by the way, granted used in a different situation) Alex finds public displays of affection towards Henry very natural.

Henry doesn’t.

However much he loves touching and kissing Alex in private behind closed door throughout the entirety of their relationship, he was never comfortable, or confident for them in public settings, even if there’s actually no one except their own professional secret service/ personal staff there.

And I think one of the contributing reasons is unlike Alex, he never really got to see queer people be openly proud of their identity and partners.

Henry, as the prince, has his social circle and travels limited. You’re not gonna see him on the subway or walking through Trafalgar Square. He’s not gonna be able to walk the streets and just see queer citizens out and about the way Alex did. Given the context clues in the movie, I’m guessing he’s limited to causes the crown wants to serve (veterans, climate, diplomacy, which all have their own values as social issues but doesn’t suit Henry) and unlike the royals in our world (yes I pay some attention to the irl royal family) he couldn’t even choose topics that interest him, that he wants to serve, like arts, LGBT, and mental health (there’s a sequel idea!!! Henry getting to choose how to use his title for causes he’s part of and care about), plus it’s clear his family, the king at least, had no interest in getting involved with LGBT issues, so he didn’t have any chance to approach the community while on duty either. Considering his grandfather warned him against pursuing relationships when he was 18, he probably was forced into some sense of shame or fear regarding any possibility of having a public relationship, which was also part of his argument during the Kensington confrontation. Seeing as Nick and Matthew decided Paris was Henry’s first time with someone he actually had feelings for, I’m guessing past hookups in said “English Boarding School” were done out of sexual frustration and some degree of rebellion, but even then it was more on the sexual side instead of anything truly affectionate, and that was still extremely secretive with stacks of NDAs.

So on Henry’s part, he was secluded in a almost forcefully heteronormative environment, never really got to see people like him in real life, in front of his eyes (reading queer history and news about LGBT rights is very different from seeing it yourself), and was told that this was something to be ashamed about, something he can’t do, something impossible. That’s why he never felt confident enough to ask for touch or touch Alex in anywhere remotely public. (He was drunk at the karaoke, and I think most of the Texas vacation was on the Claremont-Diaz’s private property, so those don’t count)

Until the palace pride protest, where thousand of people like him came to storm the palace with their rainbow flags and banners, their support, and their own identities display.

Faces with this massive display of queer pride right in front of him, Henry, maybe for the first time, sees so many people like them, and he sees that it’s okay for him to be gay, that there is nothing selfish, shameful, repulsive or unacceptable about who he is and who he loves. They’re here for him. They’re just like him. They’re proud of it. They show it.

So this time, in front of his family, a window away from the outside world, it’s his turn to ask for Alex’s hand, held between his. He’s finally confident enough in everything so tell Alex, through a wet smile, “I love you.”

Both of them look out, at the sea of colourful love and pride. Alex, who has seen this many times before in his life, but probably the first time he sees this knowing he’s part of that sea. Henry, who gets to see the crowd be proud of something he’s tried so long to conceal and hide.

Henry can be proud of his sexuality too.

And he shows it, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, with thousands of people cheering for him and his boyfriend. 

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #nicholas galitzine #taylor zakhar perez #rwrb thoughts #rwrb movie analysis #rwrb meta #meta #in all honesty this is more context clues than concrete evidence #but imo it still stands #will write something about Alex's physical affection

[demadogs]

(disclaimer i havent seen or read rwrb) heartstopper is a bit cringe but tbh i love it bc of that… i’ll never love wtvr nick n charlies ship name is the way i love byler but the show itself makes me so happy in a way st (usually) doesnt. maybe thats bc i havent been exposed to enough queer tv so i just love it wherever i see it but as a queer teen in a mega conservative us state it feels so hopeful/joyful esp compared to all the trauma will goes thru in st bc of his queerness (or wtvr various homophobic things happened in young royals i didnt watch the whole thing)

not that i dont love st (my blog is byler themed lol) but thats my unasked-for defense of cringe gay tv/movies. overall i just want MORE queer tv shows whether theyre cringe n saccharine or ultra serious n depressing :) would love to hear ur thoughts if u want to share or u can let this marinate in ur inbox or delete it w/o reading. peace and love !

and im so glad it brings other people joy!! when i say my own opinions that is not me saying the show/movie is objectively bad. i totally see the appeal of a happy gay show like heartstopper, i personally just prefer things that arent lighthearted and romcommy feeling. like my favorite genres are scifi, horror/thriller, and murder. i like deep and dark shit thats not always boiled down just to a ship.

and also i wanna make it clear that when i say “serious tone” that does NOT equate to depressing!!!!!!!! i am NOT saying i dont like happy endings. it just means i want it treated in more of a real way and not romcommy. i dont like the cutsey stuff like the doodles in heartstopper and how they filmed the phone calls in the first bit of rwrb (i know you havent seen it but just trust me). for me personally things like that just completely take me out of the movie like i just want to watch it authentically like it would have happened irl and thats how more dramatic and serious toned shows/movies are always shot.

i also tend to like my gay fiction to be within a much huger story. a good example of this is the show, the wilds. that show is about a severly fucked up social experiment involving 8 girls and a staged plane crash that leaves them stranded on an isolated island and two of the girls end up together. i LOVED how they wrote that. amazing show highly recommend. this is also one of the reasons i love byler. its a part of a much bigger story and its treated seriously while still being cute and beautiful. plus im 10000% sure itll have a happy ending so again, serious in tone does noooot mean depressing.

thanks for being respectful in this ask and not just trying to change my mind or act like im not allowing anybody else to enjoy what i dont enjoy. and i will say since you do love heartstopper, youd probably love rw&rb and i highly recommend it! and if you want a list of more queer fiction recs i can def give you that (but obviously mine will be less lighthearted than heartstopper).

#i already have one of sapphic fiction somewhat recently you could scroll through my anon tag and find it #eden answers

[hms-chill]

Some watercolor desk portraits for @rwrb-social-isolation’s “try something new” Wednesday prompt! I obviously stuck with watercolor, and I’m clearly not great, but I’m having fun!

 Notes under the cut:

Alex: a messy boy. That’s crumpled paper and dirty dishes behind his laptop. Two empty bags of flamin’ hots. Only one pen in the pen holder, the rest are scattered around the desk. The plant (a pothos from Nora) is very dead and he hasn’t noticed. Campaign stickers all over his laptop and you can really tell I’ve never looked at a law book in my life. Also, color coded study guides.

Henry: green carnations on his laptop and desk because Wilde wore them as an emblem of queerness. A separate keyboard b/c he’s that bitch. Desk trash can, full pen cup, and a candle in one corner. Book (The Stonewall Reader) with pink post-it notes. A nice little journal. A thriving pothos (also from Nora). A nice cup of tea with milk. He’s got a nice classy space.

Also? They both have matching “history, huh?” stickers on their laptops. They were a gift from someone (the artist who designed them? Someone who sent them in a long letter about how they helped them come out? Who knows) and they both love them.

#not fic #rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb art #if you can call this art lmao #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry fox mountchristen windsor x alex claremont diaz #rwrb social isolation

[old-primavera-cerezos]

ridiculous favorite headcanon for @rwrb-social-isolation

Henry secretly self-publishes very historically-accurate regency era gay erotic novels online.

#what else did he do with all that yearning and royal knowledge before he met alex #rwrb social isolation

[reveriesofawriter]

Something new for @rwrb-social-isolation

I’ve never made an online quiz before but this was actually a lot of fun once I got past writing the first question lmao tell me who you get!

#there's a third surprise option you could get which is fun #i was trying to come up with answers and i was like you know what this fits someone else better #so i added them in haha #rwrb social isolation

[nope-nora]

rwrb social isolation: week one, day 3 - something new -> a collage of (some of) the queer history references

#i just love how this book talks about and engages with queer history okay #i left a lot of stuff out but also this took a while #i might add later for fun?? #for me this is something new bc i havent done shitty collages like this since middle school #it was fun make bad art kids!! #rwrb social isolation #red white and royal blue #q word

[garlicsaltissuperior]

day two of the @rwrb-social-isolation challenge

#rwrb social isolation #rwrb #pyramus and thisbe #firstprince #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor

[claremont-holleran]

haven’t really been participating in @rwrb-social-isolation​ week bc i still have a ton of online class buuuut i had to hop on and share one of my fave headcanons:

when henry posted that instagram waaay back in their texting phase, it was absolutely a thirst trap designed to get a reaction out of alex. henry’s been gay for a while, he knows what he’s doing. alex saw that picture and it provoked so many weird feelings in him but he’s still a dummy and the one way that he knows how to express his feelings at this point is to insult henry’s tie over text, prompting this glorious exchange: 

#rwrb social isolation #rwrb #headcanon #firstprince #oops sorry also i didnt realize this was yesterdays thing

[justlookingformoregaystuff]

I just reread Red White and Royal Blue and fuck... it’s just so good. I need that movie so bad and like right now. If it’s not perfectly cast I will riot (I stg if they cast Noah Centineo as Alex). And also a sequel would be great. I want it to be called Something Borrowed and Something Royal Blue and it’s about their wedding because that would be amazing

#rwrb #rwrb social isolation #red white and royal blue #alex x henry #gay books #lgbt literature

[rwrb-social-isolation]

Social Isolation: Week 1

Hi y’all! These are just designed to be fun ways to fill time and connect folks while we’re staying inside! Feel free to pick and choose what you’re interested in; doing one thing absolutely doesn’t commit you to doing all of them. If you do anything, please tag this blog and use “#rwrb social isolation” to make sure I see it 😊

Monday, 3/23: Closet cosplay! That sweater that always makes you think of Henry? The statement piece that makes you feel like Pez? I want to see it! Put together a costume from pieces in your closet and post a picture.

Tuesday, 3/24: Favorite Quotes! Write out your favorite quote from the book (or your top three! Top five! Whatever!); make it as simple or as fancy as you want.

Wednesday, 3/25: Something new! Are you a writer who hasn’t drawn since elementary school? An artist who hasn’t written creatively in years? Have you been meaning to try embroidery but haven’t gotten to it? Just bought Sims on sale and need to figure out character creation? Now’s the time! Try out a new medium; we promise not to judge you.

Thursday, 3/26: Favorite headcannon! Are you convinced you know Bea’s favorite childhood book? Have a great idea about how Amy met her wife? Let us know!

Friday, 3/27: Create a space! What does Nora’s apartment look like? What about Alex and Henry’s shared kitchen? In either words or images (or any other way! I think Sims is on sale!), sketch a space from the book for us!

Saturday, 3/28: suggest things for next week because I’m out of ideas

These are all meant to take as much of as little time as you have, and they’re just supposed to be a fun way to build community and keep busy while we’re spending time inside! I’ve tried to come up with things that anyone can do with stuff they have, and that will accommodate various skill levels/art forms.

#rwrb social isolation #rwrb prompts #red white and royal blue #rwrb #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor #june claremont diaz #bea fox mountchristen windsor #nora holleran #pez okonjo #henry fox mountchristen windsor x alex claremont diaz #firstprince #social isolation #socially isolate still create

[you-are-valid-and-deserve-love]

Oh, god I wish

#rwrb #rwrb social isolation #rwrb spoilers

[bubblegumstardust]

You get 2 for 1 on the @rwrb-social-isolation prompt for today because it's getting late and I have another much more sappy ramble to give y'all.

So there's a girl that I absolutely adore and I just need to take a few minutes to talk about it and hopefully make her cry and feel things like she does to me all the time. Like this girl, God this girl. She's literally so amazing it's like hard to figure out how to say it. She's a ray of sunshine honestly and literally everytime I get a notification that she's posted or messaged me or anything it just instantly brightens my day and I end up sat there with a stupid smile on my face and my heart doing stupid things that I don't think it's really meant to be doing.

She's unbelievably talented, like her writing literally moves me to tears all the time and she just uses words so perfectly to make me feel every emotion so clearly and deeply. Even with hardly any words she can make me feel so much as well and without even trying too. And the way she talks about the things she loves and the things she wants and her dreams of the future is just...fuck. Like, it's everything. I can feel the softness and the love and the joy in the pictures she paints of those things and them being things I want too just brings on all this longing and it's just amazing okay?

And God she is so smart as well. Like she knows so many interesting things and I could just listen to her talk about them for hours because I know she's so so passionate about them and everything is so fascinating and a part of her and it's just so lovely.

Like seriously this girl is the absolute sweetest. She is adorable and kind and just such an amazing person who deserves all the love and happiness in the world. 💕💕💕

#rwrb social isolation #amy's inane ramblings #Amy feels things #late night emotional posting please shut up

[hufflepuff-ass-bitch]

@rwrb-social-isolation prompt - 31st March

Playlist for Nora even if these songs won't necessarily fit her (my music taste is...something and I'm picking the first song of that letter that I land on, I'm sorry)

N - No Way - Six the musical

O - One Way Or Another - Blondie

R - Radio GaGa - Queen

A - Afterglow - All Time Low

.

H - Heaven Is A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle

O - Oh Cecilia - The Vamps

L - Loyal To Me - Nina Nesbitt

L - Love Myself - Hailee Steinfeld

E - English Love Affair - 5SOS

R - Reckless - You Me At Six

A - All For You - Years & Years

N - No Excuses- Meghan Trainor

You've actually been spared a lot of my more awful stuff so lucky you guys.

#rwrb social isolation #rwrb #nora holleran #playlist

[hms-chill]

@rwrb-social-isolation‘s prompt today is “baking”, so here’s a little semi-edited ficlet of an idea that I didn’t want to sit on until next March!

“Uh, Alex? Love? What’s... happening?” Alex looks up. He has cocoa powder on his forehead, flour in his hair, and a bit of something that looks somehow doughy in his eyebrow. 

“H! You’re home! Happy birthday again!”

“Thank you? Do you want to explain what’s going on here?”

“I’m baking.” Henry tries not to let any of the sudden panic he’s feeling into his face.

“What are you making? Aside from a mess?”

“A cake. It’s your birthday, so I asked Bea to send me your favorite cake recipe so I could make it. Everything was by weight and we don’t have one of those fancy scale things, so I sort of had to guess, but I... you know. I made it work.” This does absolutely nothing to quell Henry’s growing concern. He looks around the kitchen. There’s melted chocolate on the door of the refrigerator. There’s flour all over Alex’s pants and somehow, inexplicably, egg shell in his hair.

“Have you ever made a cake before?”

“From a box, once. It wasn’t great. But we’ve watched enough Bake Off that I know what I’m doing now! Eggs are the only raising agent. Fold the batter. shoot in the flour, Bain-Marie, let prove, all that.”

Henry’s mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. “Those are... techniques for entirely separate bakes.”

“Well, whatever I did, it worked. Sort of. Here.” He’s holding out something reminiscent of the mud pies Henry and Bea used to “cook” when they were kids. The world’s saddest rainbow candle is stuck in the top. “I had to cut off all the weird wet bits, and the ones that kept falling apart, so that’s why it doesn’t totally look like it should, but I think it’s all baked. And I’ll clean up the kitchen, I swear, I wasn’t expecting you home so soon. Maybe I lost track of time while I was decorating; the fondant didn’t work out so it sort of looks like shit, but uh... I tried? Happy birthday.”

Henry takes the plate Alex hands him almost gingerly. A scene from The Lord of the Rings where Aragorn has to choke down a bowl of soup and subtly pours half of it out flashes through his mind. Alex hunts the kitchen for a clean fork, leaving chocolatey fingerprints on what might be every clean drawer in the kitchen before he resorts to pulling one out of the dishwasher. Henry steels himself and takes a bite, feeling Alex’s eyes on him.

He’s not expecting it to be good. He loves Alex with everything in him, but will all his cooking expertise, the man has neither the patience nor the discipline for baking, even when he has a recipe he can follow.

The cake hits Henry’s mouth, and it’s somehow worse than he could have ever expected.

He chokes down a mouthful, forcing himself to swallow.

Alex is looking at him.

“I... I’ve never had anything like it.”

“Is it... it’s okay if it’s bad.”

“It’s... somehow both burnt and raw in the same spot.”

“Yeah, I thought maybe if I put the burnt parts by the wet parts maybe they would cancel each other out. You don’t have to eat it. I ordered a dozen cupcakes when I messed up the first cake, and I have dinner prepped, so we can still have a nice birthday night. How was work?”

“It was good.”

“Did they do anything special for your birthday?”

“We... we made cake. No, it’s okay, it was all pre-measured ingredients and stuff. It was mostly just a fun decorating thing for any of the kids who wanted to. Besides, you can��t be good at everything. If you could bake, you wouldn’t need me.”

“Sweetheart, I will always need you.” Henry smiles, using the excuse of grabbing the bit of egg shell to run his hand through Alex’s hair.

“Thank you for the cake, really. I appreciate the thought, and the effort.”

“I’m sorry it’s shit. I can make it up to you?” He clearly has something sexy in mind, but Henry smirks.

“Want to try a bite?”

Alex deflates. He takes Henry’s fork and gets a bite, eyeing it suspiciously for a moment before putting it in his mouth. He immediately makes a face, sticking out his tongue to let the lump of what can only generously be called chocolate cake fall back onto the plate with a wet thwack. Henry tries to hold in his laughter, he does, but after a moment, Alex is laughing, too. And really, a laughing boyfriend is all Henry could ever want.

(I’ve been watching a lot of Aries Kitchen, and this video in particular has a lot of Alex-Trying-To-Bake energy)

#rwrb social isolation #alex claremont diaz #henry fox mountchristen windsor x alex claremont diaz #my fic: rwrb #henry fox mountchristen windsor #rwrb #red white and royal blue

[old-primavera-cerezos]

trying something new for @rwrb-social-isolation 😊 I’m trying to be positive about this, so - I had fun doing it and playing with the watercolors.

Henry, Alex, and two homes side by side.

#rwrb #mine #my art #again lol tongue in cheek #rwrb social isolation

[reveriesofawriter]

Fluff, for @rwrb-social-isolation​ (this was so fun to write I can’t even)

Alex came home from a late class one night, brain already fuzzy from trying to learn so many new things. Sure, he also took notes. But what was the point if he couldn’t remember them? He walked in the front door, careful to close it gently behind him in case Henry had gone to bed early. Alex’s confusion only grew, however, at the sound of Henry’s voice through their bedroom door. He sounded... angry? Definitely upset. Hard day at work maybe? “He’s just been so irritating lately.” Alex’s ears perked up. He didn’t want to eavesdrop but it was a habit. “I know I’m supposed to love him, but-” A pause. “No, Bea you don’t understand. It’s not just whining anymore.” Another pause. “He’s being so difficult.”

Alex was no stranger to the term. He had heard it so often about himself as a child he had sworn to be perfect if it killed him. Henry kept talking to his sister and Alex didn’t want to interrupt, so he made himself a midnight snack before bed. By the time he put the jar of peanut butter back in the cupboard and went to bed, Henry was already asleep. Alex didn’t expect to sleep himself - of course he knew Henry hadn’t been talking about him - but insecurity gnawed at his mind. Maybe he had been complaining about school too much lately. He definitely didn’t cook for himself as much these days, since half his classes this semester had him on campus until 10 pm and he would have to go out of his way to grab food on the commute home, he probably had been eating more of Henry’s snacks than usual. Did he accidentally take the last of the Ribena? He stubbornly frowned to himself. It was Henry’s fault for getting him hooked on the stuff. He must have dozed off eventually because when he woke up, Henry was nowhere to be seen. Alex trudged to the kitchen, where Henry had left a note saying he had to be at the shelter early for a meeting and didn’t want to wake him. Alex had texted Nora sometime around 3 am asking if he was overreacting. She had replied with an eyeroll emoji. And then five minutes later: June says you are annoying and to go to sleep. He didn’t have class that day for a few hours, and a paper to work on before that. Sitting down with his laptop, he placed an order for more Ribena and Jammy Dodgers for good measure before pulling up the paper. Needless to say, the paper writing didn’t go very far.

Alex got home from class, early dinner in hand from a Thai place he and Henry both loved, just a few minutes before Henry. As soon as Henry walked in the door, Alex stood up from the couch, hoping his face didn’t give away how unsure of himself he was. “What’s all this?” Henry asked, seeing the food all spread out. “Are you mad at me?” Alex blurted. “What?” “I know I’ve been on like an opposite schedule from you this last month and I’m sorry that’s how my classes worked out but I’ll try to help with the shelter more and I’ll stop eating all your fancy English cookies and I’ll stop whining about my coursework so much, I mean I’ll probably vent a little when I forget but I don’t want you to think-” “Alex, what are you talking about?” Alex didn’t know how to backtrack to a place where he could play it off so he plunged forward. “I couldn’t sleep so I made a list of stuff I should be doing better-” “You’re doing good just how you are, where’s all this coming from?” Henry shrugged off his coat and laid it over the back of a chair. “I heard you talking to Bea last night and when I asked June about it she said I am annoying.” “She’s your sister, I think she’s supposed to say that.” Henry took two more steps toward him. “And you heard me talking to Bea about a new kid at the shelter. He’s on the defensive with everyone, and being a right bugger about everything. It’s just a part of the process.” Henry suddenly laughed and some of the knots around Alex’s mind loosened at the sound. “He reminds me a bit of you, actually. Stuck to my side the moment we met and seems hellbent on being as irritating as possible.” “Tell me his name’s not Alex.” “No, he’s a Cody.” “Typical Cody,” Alex said sarcastically. Henry cupped Alex’s face in his hands and gave his nose a little kiss. “I’m not mad at you,” he said, answering Alex’s question from earlier. “Yeah, I got that.” “Besides, he’s doing a better job of being annoying than you ever did.” Alex’s jaw dropped in indignation. “Take that back!” Henry only laughed. He sat down on the couch, pulling Alex down beside him. “You know I love you? I wouldn’t choose anyone else to annoy me for the rest of my life.”

#an itemized list of 30 years of disagreements (sweet jesus) aka i've had hamilton songs stuck in my head all day #leading to this cuteness #rwrb social isolation #i should start posting these on ao3 lmao