#im not responsible for the therapy u'll need after tho srry.

[bylertruther]

every time i see one of you make a joke about how unlikely it is that two straight cis guys would write a gay love story, straightbait, and make their main characters gay, etc etc, i just think of bl4ck sails and promptly pop a blood vessel trying my hardest to keep my comments to myself.

like. i’m literally begging you guys to watch this clip, but i’ll provide a transcript below, too. it’s from bl4ck sails, a show written by two presumably straight cis men. the first season was straightbait and then it turned into the most beautiful, nuanced gay shit ever. they tackle shame and how society uses it to keep those that are “other” down and controlled. they tackle how society turns those that are “other” into monsters, casting them away. how the strongest, bravest, most dangerous thing you can do is look that evil power in the face, shrug off the shackles of shame it forced on you, and say "no more".

the following speech is given by the patron saint of gay rage a queer pirate king of a character that is waging war against england because it killed his lover, who was a good man. it’s a death that he’s never gotten over, that fundamentally changed him as a person, and is explicitly stated as his reason for fighting. both of these characters featured had a complicated romantic story-line of their own, too, which makes their conversation especially loaded.

"They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons. Their judgements. Because in the darkness there be dragons. But it isn't true. We can prove that it isn't true. In the dark there is discovery. There is possibility. There is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it. And who has been so close to doing it as we are right now? [...] All this will be for nothing. We will have been for nothing. Defined by their histories. Distorted to fit into their narrative. Until all that is left of us are the monsters in the stories they tell their children.”

— “I don’t care.”

“You will. Someday, you will. Someday, even if you can persuade [your lover] to keep you, she’ll no longer be enough. And the comfort will grow stale. And casting about in the dark for some proof that you mattered and finding none, you'll know that you gave it away in this moment on this island.”

like... is it common for straight cis men to do this? no. but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible! it doesn’t mean they’re incapable. none of what makes us ship and believe in byler just randomly popped up in season four. it’s been there since the beginning. we know this. they know this. they’re doing it and have been doing it this whole time.

chin up and clown shoes off, soldiers. 🫡