Sometimes You Read A Fanfiction To Distract And Enjoy Yourself But You End Up Reading A Dialogue Or A

remus and regulus

regulus: I mean, if you're asking me do I love Potter the answer is yes but I just- I don't think its normal to want to kill you're boyfriend, you know?

Remus: oh yeah, no it definately is normal

Regulus: really

Remus: sure, everyone has that time once a month or so when they just feel the distinct urge to source a dagger and violently murder their significant other

Regulus: you're sure?

Remus: yeah totally, Lilly has threatened all of her girlfriend with an axe at least once

Regulus: phew! Thats a relief.

Remus: you know one time i stabbed sirius in the hand with a sharpened quill in class

Regulus:...what

Remus: what

Nick's bisexuality arc is probably one of - if not the - best part of heartstopper to me. Coz it's genuinely so nice to have a plot where a questioning character gets to not only research his sexuality, but also to talk to other queer people about their identities. He doesn't know automatically how he feels and he doesn't assume what anyone else goes through, so he goes and asks other queer people about their experiences

Nick asking Charlie about how he knew he's gay and asking Tara if she felt anything for him when they were younger is so nice to see, because you can see him start to understand that he doesn't relate to those parts of their queerness. He gets a chance to compare their experiences with same-gender attraction, and it helps him to figure out that he isn't gay but that another label would fit him better

And when he does decide that he's bisexual, he's accepted without arguments. The only time someone questions it is when his mum says that he doesn't have to say he likes girls if he doesn't, and when he confirms that he does like girls, she immediately believes him

Just them depicting a arc where people believe and celebrate him for learning that he's bisexual is so beloved. You can tell that this is a show written by queer people for queer people, and the compassion they show closeted people and bisexuals is just incredible because of it

Going to Breakfast

James: Wherewolf?

Sirius: *looks around*

Sirius: *points at Remus*

Sirius: Therewolf

Remus:

James & Sirius: *giggles*

Remus: I will kill you both

Okay so I may have named a star DRARRY so now we can seriously say that it’s written in the stars.

*acquires a new hyperfixation* great! this should keep me going for the next 2 months or 24 hours

kit connor absolutely NAILING nicks confusion mixed with attraction in the first couple of episodes is so special to me. like it’s so clear- especially in eps 2&3 that he is so confused but likes charlie so much he doesn’t know what to do with himself. and that culminated brilliantly at the start of episode four with “i’m just so so confused” (and when his voice broke </3) it was so realistic and SO well done like i was floored

Heartstopper is different because it takes pleasure seriously

Since I watched Heartstopper, I've been trying to figure out what about it made it feel so different from other stories similar to it. When you just describe the plot of it, it sounds like something straight (har har) out of Glee or Sex Education or Elite or SKAM or Skins or Degrassi, or...you get my point.

But it felt so different to me, and I realized yesterday what it was. Hearstopper takes the pleasures of queer romance and eroticism as seriously as it takes the pains of it. By which I mean, it gives an incredible amount of screen time to the excitement of it, the thrill of it, the visceral good feelings of it. Pleasure drives Heartstopper, in a way that is still incredibly unusual in mainstream queer media.

In most other stories like this, the pain and the angst and the ambivalence and the negative social ramifications of the premise take up like 90-95% of the screen time. The pleasure aspect typically exists as minimally as possible to catalyze all the negative or difficult parts that are the 'real' story. And while Heartstopper doesn't shy away from those things, it gives a roughly equal amount of narrative and screen time to the two leads getting a lot of pleasure out of their relationship, too. The amount of time the show invests in showing Nick and Charlie enjoying each other romantically -- throughout the story, not just at the very end -- is just absolutely decadent (and I mean that 100% positively).

The first kiss is a perfect example. In any other TV version of this story, the boys would have kissed that first time for less than 2 seconds, and then IMMEDIATELY been interrupted by the other boys. Instead, Heartstopper lets them kiss once, take a breath, and then have a second, very extended kiss enhanced by animated embellishments designed to emphasize just how incredibly enjoyable this is for them...before finally disrupting it again with Plot™.

And the amazing thing is, from a pure narrative standpoint, you don't need the second kiss. It's completely unnecessary to the plot. You could completely eliminate it and the plot would hold together exactly the same. The second kiss is there exclusively to emphasize the intense pleasure of this experience for them. That's all it does.

Heartstopper is serious about foregrounding pleasure, and how important pleasure is in all of this. Which frankly, is a thing you usually only ever see in romance novels and fanfic.

***

One of the reasons I was hesitant to watch this show initially is because I have limited tolerance for coming out stories that are so focused on the unappealing parts of the experience. It's not that those things don't MATTER. But there is such a cultural allergy to making the pleasures of the experience a serious focus, particularly (yes I'm going to say it) the sexual pleasures of it.

Hearstopper, blissfully, refuses to shy away from pleasure, and from making it important.

It's not just that my tolerance for queer pain in media is limited (although admittedly that's true). I also grow so weary of popular culture treating queerness as mostly a political identity upon which we simply moralize about tolerance, and engage in self congratulatory yarns about ~being yourself~ and loving yourself. It's not that I think any of those things is BAD. But a) I've seen that story many times before and b) there's an ENORMOUS piece of this experience that we're still mostly skirting around the edges of because we're still very chickenshit about it, to be perfectly frank.

We, as a culture, are still scared as fuck to really say, very bluntly: queerness feels fucking good.

In the midst of this, Heartstopper does something wondrous. It says to the audience, in no uncertain terms: Queerness feels fucking good...so, let's spend some time actually talking about THAT for a while.

Rarepair Rec Saturday

Here's Looking At You Kid by MesserMoon (E, 140k, George/Blaise)

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…"

George wanders into a bar. Nothing is ever the same.

I am in love with the characterizations in this fic. I intended to read one chapter and space it out. Instead, I fell immediately for how this fic doesn't shy away from drawing out all the complications, and heartbreak, and Weasley family disapproval from their relationship. Perfect use of flashbacks to draw out the story. There's also a significant secondary Drarry plot. What more could I need?

I never was good with decisions.

I'm a genderfluid, pansexual and polyamore.

I never made a decision in my life!