#personally i like to read these guys as rom or queerplatonic

[kavehsleftearring]

augh they sre so good man

im gonna die laughinf ohh my fucking godd 😭😭😭😭😭 this is soo fucking sweet auhhhggg 😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺

[irenewsky]

To add to this post where I talked about my asexual Jiang Cheng and aromantic Nie Huaisang au, here are some more of my ideas concerning the same fic that absolutely no one asked for:

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng shared their first kiss with each other at the age of 15 because they were both confused as to what exactly was so great about it

Nie Huaisang found out that he’s aromantic when he started to question his lack of crushes in high school. His pansexuality, however, was easier to figure out

Jiang Cheng found out he’s asexual when reading more about aromanticism after Nie Huaisang told him about it and accidentally clicking on a link about asexuality

Jiang Cheng doesn’t like physical closeness but doesn’t mind it with Nie Huaisang. They cuddle a lot

Their shared quilty pleasure is cheesy rom-coms - they skip the sex scenes because Jiang Cheng would rather crawl out of his skin than watch those

The Nie household is the sole reason why the Jiang siblings are as mentally stable as they are, offering their home for the siblings whenever they needed to get away from their parent’s fighting

Madam Nie, Huaisang’s mother (Mister Nie remarried after Nie Minjue’s mother passed away), absolutely adored Jiang Cheng while she was still alive

Nie Mingjue and Jiang Yanli practically raised Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian because gods know Jiang Fengmian and Madam Yu wouldn’t. Also because as much as they loved the kids, the Nie parents were busy running their family’s law firm

Nie Huaisang was the first person Jiang Cheng told about his asexuality and Nie Huaisang helped him to come in terms with it. The same had previously happened with Jiang Cheng coming out as gay

Jiang Cheng coming out as asexual to Wei Wuxian didn't go well (initially). A lot of offending words, shouting and hurt feelings here - Jiang Cheng didn’t talk to his brother for weeks. It was only after Wei Wuxian held himself accountable, did some research on asexuality and apologized that the brothers started to get along again

Nie Mingjue was convinced his brother and Jiang Cheng were dating when they were in high school. Jiang Yanli laughed at his face when he told her about this 

Jiang Cheng dated two people before Nie Huaisang but neither relationship worked because the guys were both ”aphobic assholes” as Nie Huaisang put it and didn’t take Jiang Cheng’s asexuality seriously

Jiang Cheng realized at the age of 23 that he had fallen in love with Nie Huaisang when they were already living together. He then proceeded to freak out about it internally for weeks until Nie Huaisang confronted him about his weird behaviour around him and Jiang Cheng broke like a dam

Nie Huaisang didn’t know what to do after Jiang Cheng confessed to him and it took couple of weeks of awkwardness between them until Nie Huaisang decided to give them a try because he did love Jiang Cheng in his own way and could see himself staying by Wanyin’s side for the rest of their lives

With Nie Huaisang being romance-favourable aromantic and Jiang Cheng being sex-repulsed asexual, their relationship certainly was different from society’s perception of ’normal’ (theirs was something unique to them. Something only they could define). It did work though and that was all that mattered

Nie Mingjue may or may not have teared up just a little when Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang told their siblings they were now an item in their own somewhat queerplatonic way. He also might have turned to Jiang Yanli and said ”I told you so”

They got engaged after four years of being together and married one year later (they chose to do so because a) they wanted to, and b) to piss off aphobes and homophobes). The wedding was small because Jiang Cheng wasn’t fond of big weddings, he only wanted those they cared about to attend, but it was absolutely beautiful because Nie Huaisang didn’t accept anything less than the best when it came to their wedding.

Their wedding night after all the celebrations with their friends and family were over was spent rewatching their favourite rom-coms and eating take out until they both fell asleep on the couch

[ineffable-endearments]

Okay. Now I'm going to submit some theories about how I think Crowley and Aziraphale specifically are going to go in the future of Good Omens.

Again, this post is not really...specific theorizing about plot events. It's big-picture stuff.

With that said, this post will get a bit heavy at times, in the sense that it will contain opinions that not everyone will like. It drifted into rambling about queerbaiting and all that stuff. I'm not going to spam anyone's dashboard with drama over it, but it's very possible someone else might try. It's also not really a negative post, depending on what you want to hear, I suppose. But if you're only in the mood to read fluff today, you'll probably want to pass it up.

Oh! Also it's very long, and sexuality is discussed in a vague way that doesn't involve any story elements or body parts.

For starters, I don't think Good Omens 2 - or even 3, if that comes about - is going to have anything explicitly sexual or romantic between the two of them, where "explicit" is things like the characters giving outright definitions of their relationship or outright discussing exactly what goes on between them, either on or off-screen. I also don't think there's going to be kissing or "hooking up" (come on...that person on Twitter shouldn't have even asked). Those actions are too blatant for what Neil has already said about the series. While they technically leave some room for interpretation, they probably don't leave enough.

I DO think it's quite possible other characters will continue to define the relationship FOR them and Crowley and Aziraphale will continue to not deny it.

As far as the queerbaiting debate, "is Good Omens queerbaiting"...it's gonna depend how you define it. I always learned that queerbaiting was basically where the creators intentionally make it look like a character is gay or otherwise queer but then swap that character development out for a cis identity and hetero relationship at the end. The point is that the "bait" leads to queer audiences being actively hurt. That's the behavior that seems awful to me, and I don't see Neil and company doing that.

However, I think it's far and away the most likely option that it will be left up to interpretation whether Crowley and Aziraphale are, you know, a buddy duo or a romantic couple or some sort of ineffable queerness all their own off-screen. So if your definition of queerbaiting is "the characters seem gay to us, but homophobes can tell themselves they're not," then yes, I think that debate will follow us to our graves if we let it.

I am a cisgender, possibly straight (?? demi/bi? I might never find out) woman. There is absolutely no way I could ever tell anybody, ESPECIALLY not gay guys and nonbinary people - the people Crowley and Aziraphale tend to resemble the most - how to feel about their treatment in the story. All I can offer is that I'm one flawed individual and there are things I have the emotional capacity to handle and things I don't. Crowley and Aziraphale as both a canon construct and a fandom pairing mean an absurd amount to me, and I can't hang around in spaces where people are constantly talking about how my own interpretations of them are not enough, or how the story is written with ill intentions. I don't want to stop anybody from venting about it, but I am going to be removing myself from those situations.

I like to imagine 1990 NeilandTerry, or TerryandNeil, as a sort of two-headed God who came up with Crowley and Aziraphale, set them loose on Creation, and now are watching them get up to way more ridiculous stuff in the brains of their fans than they'd ever imagined in the first place. I like to imagine them watching, amused and bemused, as their creations fall in love in thousands of universes, and saying, "Well, we didn't specifically Plan for this, but we did promise free will."

This is psychoanalytical toward a public figure and is therefore a bit dangerous, so please take it with an entire mountain of salt, but I sometimes think perhaps Neil sees some of his and Terry's friendship in Crowley and Aziraphale, and suspect that he wants to reserve the possibility that they could be platonic because he and Terry were platonic, while at the same time leaving room for the fans to have their own interpretations, too. Because if there's one thing that comes up really frequently with Neil, it's his belief in imagination and how much stories matter to people. He can have his little corner of the universe where A and C reflect himself and Terry, and we can have...literally anything we want, as long as we're willing to extrapolate just a little bit from canon. It's not even that much extrapolation! It's just "Yes, they love each other, so what exactly does love mean to you?" and if love means kissing, well then, if we can think it, we can have it.

Given that Neil has written LGBT+ characters before, I think he has non-bigoted reasons for wanting Aziraphale and Crowley to remain undefined, and given even the small chance that those reasons may involve the grieving process for a dead friend, I believe it is unkind to argue with him about it or hold his reputation hostage over it.

With that said, do I want canon kissing/hooking up/all that stuff we put in fics? Listen, I can't deny that I do! Personally, I'd be over the moon. I'd probably be so happy I'd have to go to the hospital to get sorted out. Even the thought of it makes me giddy and light-headed, because that physicality is a part of my own experience of love.

However, there are a lot of people who would feel left behind if that happened. Ace and aro people in the fandom whose love for their friends and partners is just as strong as mine, but who are sex-repulsed or just don't want to see kissing on-screen. The loss of Crowley and Aziraphale as a pairing who are extremely easy to interpret as queerplatonic would be hurtful to them, and I do not want to see them hurt like that. I don't think Neil does, either.

So, once again, the "best for everyone" option becomes a really strong canon relationship based in both narrative function and profound affection, which has genuinely thoughtful queer undertones and leaves open the logical possibility for romantic or sexual encounters but does not insist that they must happen. People, especially fans who are super invested, tend to have an easier time imagining scenarios that take place off-screen (e.g. kissing, sex) than they have erasing scenarios that they've already seen in canon (e.g., if someone wished they could continue viewing it as an ace relationship but they were shown "hooking up"). Also, while relationships are super emotional and extremely subjective, I'd argue that in a long-term adult partnership, the non-sexual connection is more important than the sexual one. As a fan, I'd prefer to extrapolate "they love each other so maybe they'd have sex" rather than "they're sexually attracted to each other so maybe they'll intertwine their whole existences together."

It probably isn't necessary to add, but I will anyway: I'm aware that Good Omens is sort of sacrificing social leverage - the ability to whack homophobes over the head with canon if they try to deny the show's queerness - and is thus not really contributing to making specifically gay relationships more widely seen and accepted. However, I don't think all stories have to invest heavily in every social issue they touch on for them to still be meaningful. I also do think Good Omens is an excellent example of a relationship that is extremely profound without being heteronormative.

I don't think the next season is going to be a rom-com. It will likely not even be a "love story," where the definition of "love story" is "a story that follows the development of a relationship and employs certain plot beats to make its point." Remember that conflicts and breakups are key to love stories, so if it IS a love story, then we're going to have to watch the relationship get challenged in ways some of us might have thought were already resolved in season 1! And while that could be thrilling and ultimately very good, it would also be likely to undercut some of the careful headcanoning and analysis we've already done. Any sequel is going to do that to some degree, but a second love story would probably do it a lot, with interpretations that people are even more protective of.

I'm sort of thinking the next season is likely to be a fantasy-heavy mystery, only because those are the two concepts Neil's introduction led with - an angel with amnesia who presents Crowley and Aziraphale with a mystery. Crowley and Aziraphale's connection to each other can still absolutely be a major theme! It can still be the thread stitching the plot together! It just probably, in my opinion, won't escalate and escalate and escalate like it did in season 1. And it will probably be woven in there among a lot of other plot threads that are, in many moments, louder. Still, I'd love to be left with the impression of these two existences, the light and the dark, subtly becoming more intimate, subtly growing more comfortable in this shared place they've chosen in the universe, gradually starting to behave like they know they aren't alone in the world anymore, all while other things happen to and around them.

Nonsexual physical intimacy - a really great hug, or leaning together on the sofa, or a forehead touch, or something like those, something that could happen in a lot of different kinds of relationships but is undoubtedly based in deep trust and affection and a desire to be close...that's the dream, for me. Oh, how lovely it would be.

Of course, I could be just absolutely, embarrassingly wrong about all this. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello do u have know any fics where Irene has a significant role ( positive or negative ) johnlock being endgame ofc

Hmmm, good question, Nonny! I like this trope; I think of Irene as Sherlock’s relationship advice fairy, LOL. I have some with Irene IN it in some capacity… Here’s what I have in my tags with Irene in it:

Rescue by missilemuse (T, 2,574 w. || Fake Relationship, Sherlock Whump, Irene Helps Sherlock) - If this was the way Sherlock Holmes loved, it was no wonder why he had avoided the damned emotion for over half of his life. Part 6 of Reichenbach To Return [[this isn’t really Johnlock, but it is… it’s non-ad10ck ad10ck. You have to read it to understand. It’s SO good and painful, trust me. Sherlock!Whump and pining]].

Unspoken by PipMer (T, 2,770 w. || Drugged John, Mutual Pining, John’s Missing Wednesday, Fluff & Angst, Canon Compliant, Gap Filler) – Sherlock wanted to test a hypothesis. About John. He wanted a question answered that he couldn’t just ask, at least not under normal conditions, because John would never tell him the truth about that.

Nineteen Seconds of Falling by EmmyAngua (T, 3,739 w. || Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Falling in Love) – Sherlock spends exactly nineteen seconds zoned out after John asks him to be best man. He retreats to his mind palace in the desperate hope of figuring out what he wants, unfortunately for him his mind palace is full of people who keep trying to give him advice.

White Blank Page by SarahCat1717 (M, 11,936 w. || Post-TRF, Clever John, Reunion Fic, Pining Sherlock, Letters, Fantasies) – Post-fall, Sherlock is off eliminating Moriarty’s crime web. He finds he misses John. He can’t divulge that he still lives, but he placates his need to communicate with John and still feel a connection with him by sending him blank letters. But over time, this writing exercise lends itself to Sherlock exploring his feelings for his friend. What will happen when Sherlock returns to London and the man he has been “writing” to regularly for the past two years? NOT S3 compliant. Mary who? {{Her stuff starts in Chapter 3}}

With All My Heart by QuinnAnderson (E, 19,257 w. || Red Marks / Soulmates || Magical Realism, Growing Up, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love) – AU in which every time a person falls in love, a red line like a tally mark appears on their wrist. Sherlock is determined to keep himself from ever gaining one of these marks for fear that love will corrode his mental faculties. Then he meets John Watson. {{She’s mentioned in Chapter 2 and creates jealousy for John}}

For you, there’s only me by shock_blanket (E, 19,557 w. || Jealous Idiots, Virgin Sherlock, UST/RST, Pining, Miscommunication, First Kiss / Time, Insecure Sherlock, Masturbation) – Sherlock realizes he has fallen in love with John, but believes he is unlovable. Cue lots of pining and jealousy on Sherlock’s part, followed by our favorite cuddly marksman making it all better. Because for Sherlock, there’s only John. {{Chapter 4 has Irene in it}}

Brief Conversations with the Woman by May_Shepard (E, 21,906 w. || Pining, Love Fairy Irene, Filler Fic, UST/URT, Drug Use, Clueless Sherlock, Relationship Advice, Angst w/ Happy Ending) – Sherlock has a puzzle to solve, and his name is John Watson.

A Love with No Name Series by aceofhearts61 (M, 49,955 w. across 20 fics || Ace!Sherlock / Straight!John, Queerplatonic Relationship, Cuddling/Snuggling, Soulmates, Caretaking, Platonic Romance) – In which Asexual!Sherlock and Straight!John are platonically in love life partners. 

Performance In a Leading Role by Mad_Lori (E, 156,714 w. || Actor / Hollywood AU || Slow Burn, Falling in Love, Secret Relationship, Coming Out) – Sherlock Holmes is an Oscar winner in the midst of a career slump. John Watson is an Everyman actor trapped in the rom-com ghetto. When they are cast as a gay couple in a new independent drama, will they surprise each other? Will their on-screen romance make its way into the real world? Part 1 of Performance in a Leading Role

Feel free to add your own, guys! I would love more :)

[arosecret]

so I think the reason I thought I was bisexual for so long is because i felt such strong (platonic) love for my best girl friends and never had a crush on anyone therefore presumed maybe thats what romance was, which is why I've hooked up with girls but not actually enjoyed it like i have with guys. after doing a lot of reading about aromanticism i feel really enlightened like everything makes sense and is less weird but still feel very different from others and scared about being unwanted/alone

) i don’t know if that makes sense, but its weird cos I’ve always liked rom-coms about FwB but HATED the endings when they get together, loathe the idea of getting married, find cheese sappy romantic gestures cringeworthy, don’t like the majority of romantic pet names, and in primary school when friends told me who they liked i never knew how to response or why it was such a big deal, like they obsessed over this one person, if they asked me who mines was i had to lie/make up a person

although i hold out hope that i could still fall in love (demiromantic?) I’ve accepted that I’m probably aro, but now I’m really sort of annoyed to find how little representation of aromatics there are in pop culture, and how someone who has sex without love is seen as damaged or lacking, and the resolution is always that they learn to allow themselves to love, either that or aromantic people are inherently asexual as well. also how romantic orientation is never discussed in general. 

AND LASTLY imho happy words like queerplatonic exist bc I’ve always wondered why can’t a raise a kid w my best friend? and SQUISHES explains so much of my early high school years when i reaaaaly wanted to be friends with certain people and get to know them better and once i knew them i just wanted to hang out, then i would worry i had a crush on them bc i felt expected to since i thought they were awesome, attractive, funny/kind, and spent lots of time with them 

Hi Anon!

I really hope I haven’t made a mistake and this is all from you!

Thank you so much for sharing!. You are not alone in  your fear, or your frustrations at how little aormantics are able to to talk about their experiences