#bc they've been waiting their whole lives for a slow burn like this

[chirpsythismorning]

Want to know what I'm most excited about for byler endgame?

All the gays who didn't see it coming.

Like there are plenty of queer ships out there with huge fanbases. And unfortunately, yes, a lot of these ships over the years weren't canon and were very clearly queer-bait going nowhere.

A lot of fans have been here before, many times. Looking for crumbs, looking for the bare minimum, and so it's not even about the pairing actually getting together in the end, it's about appreciating all the moments in between. That's valid and honestly as good as it gets most of the time and so I don't really blame them.

Which is why I think, when it comes to Stranger Things, despite the canon queer characters, SO many queer viewers who haven't even watched the show or only watched it maybe once casually, are just not picking up on any of the subtext, despite picking up on stuff from shows where it was almost entirely accidental.

And it is fascinating!

Hearing fans of other queer ships that are confused about why byler was #1 on Tumblr this year and even just coming off as sort of condescending about it, I can't even be mad.

Because from their perspective this is just another mainstream show with horrible queer-bait, which is why they haven't even allowed themselves to genuinely consider it.

And so I cannot wait for their reactions when they find out they were wrong. That they thought they would be right because they've been wrong so many times before about queer ships that didn't end up together. Except this time they'll be wrong for assuming they wouldn't end up together...

Then, that's when they'll finally allow themselves to go back and watch it and pay attention, without worrying they're being tricked like they've been every other time before... and they're going to lose their shit.

[toukatan]

i need loid and yor to fall in love already and kiss bc this slow burn is killing me (but i love it tho). we're already at 60+ chapters and we've only had crumbs, except maybe for that almost (fake) kiss. but i guess it's already been established that they've got a loooong way to go. especially since loid keeps holding himself back bc, as frankie said, with their job, they're not supposed to form (genuine) relationships. however, i hope there'll be some shift in loid soon, bc im dying for some romantic development

sigh aren’t we all waiting for them to kiss and fall in love anonie? you know, despite there only being 60+ chapters so far i am absolutely loving the slow burn between loid and yor. there are moments here and there but they really are meaningful and hold weight to them.

since we’re here can we just talk about a few loid moments ? because i think we can all agree that yor is somewhat there but let’s go on about loid being all “it’s for the mission” yeah sir my ass that line between fake and true is blurring.

the communication between the two is everything. the way loids was having some doubt in his ability to be a parent but yor reminds him that anya gave him a perfect 100 points— and then yor starts panicking saying it’s not her place to tell him what to do but loid interrupts yor and tells her this is exactly her place. he relies on her to be everything that he is not. the communication between them is so freaking good. tears.

the whole playing the perfect mother/wife role. loid doesn’t want yor to have to live up to that role as the way society expects someone like to her to be, how those ideas constrict you and you lose yourself — he just wants yor to be exactly who she is, who she’s always been. (he understands this well)

and after that frankie’s comment ‘don’t tell me you feel guilty for doubting her?’ comes to his mind, perhaps he did feel guilty for doubting her and her intentions.

loid’s always reassuring yor that she’s doing enough, there’s nothing more than he can ask of her and it’s all true. hell even fiona could see that he was being genuine. WISE? their greatest agent? twilight? telling truths and smiling genuinely while doing so? who would’ve thought.

and then we have the whole meal, chapter 35. god i love this chapter, there was a vulnerability here that loid displayed to yor when he was talking about his past, his mother specifically. how he spoke so fondly of his mum and how he always felt a sense of security being held by her. now he sees it in the same way yor cares for anya, it reminds him how he felt and knows anya feels the same way but with yor.

loid twilight whoever he is never speaks about his past, so for him to share this with yor— tears.

small moments too. they’ve been together for a while now that both he and anya do feel a little lonesome without her. they are family your honour. do not separate.

loid noticing when somethings wrong with yor: when yor came home with bandages on her hands, going straight to bed and not eating with them

when her injuries were visible from missions of course. he sure is v attentive when it comes to his girls.

i’m just gushing at this point and could probably go on forever but these were some of the moments that came to mind when writing.

but the development between the two is slow, steady, it’s gentle, it’s subtle. it’s just so them. i have to say it: their love languages are— words of affirmation, quality time and acts of service. and i’m certain in the future we’ll see the two of them finally come to terms with how they feel. as of now it’s obvious that they are care for one another, i understand loid (twilight) forming genuine relationships while being a spy is dangerous. you’ll end up either hurting yourself or those around you.

but little does he know that this “fake family” bond is already looking real. loid needs them as much as they need him.

(plus you know what slow burn means? angst, angst is gonna be there before any of these grown dorks get it together, we love pain. once thorn princess gets assigned to twilight it’s over for us)

[slutabed]

Diners drive ins and dives?!?! Tell me more!

ahhhh i love this doc bc i have like 2 simultaneous fics going on in there at once and i just need to figure out which path i wanna go for that vibe lol

one of them is a post-derry 2.0 road trip in which richie is taking eddie home to LA in his obnoxious red sports car and is narrating the whole start of the road trip like it's the beginning of a DDD episode and eddie is like "i have no idea what you're talking about" and richie realizes that not only has eddie never eaten in a diner, a drive-in, or a dive since the losers split up as teenagers, but he has never even watched the his guy fieri show diners drive-ins and dives which is INEXCUSABLE. so he takes it upon himself to introduce eddie to like, the best/worst food in each state they pass through and kind of help eddie piece together his past and his new future on a slow burn food-fueled road trip which i will probably never fully flesh out bc i have no patience for slow burn or multi chapter fics lol.

the other angle is that they're both living in LA and richie loves bringing eddie to new trendy food places or just any good cool cultural fusion places he can find just bc he wants to introduce eddie to everything he's kinda been deprived of in the years they've been apart, but kind of hides it in like "i'm annoying i wanna try new food i'm gonna drag you along with me" but it ends up being like, richie uses these little outings as a way to break big news to eddie and the focus on in the fic is that richie's management team wants him to kind of have a PR relationship now that he's out and he's kind of giving eddie this look across the table being like "well i don't have any reason to say no, do i??????" 👀 waiting for eddie's response.