#someone ask me about my conspiracy theories about pob writing stephen as a bisexual man please

[thiefbird]

i LOVED your diana pov fic, do you think you would ever write more diana pov/in that universe?

I will absolutely be writing more Diana POV! I don't know if I'll return to that universe specifically, but there are absolutely parts of So Long Lives This (my trans!Stephen AU) that will be from Diana's perspective <3 I love her so much...

That fic is really very much a character study of how I read her in canon:

1) Stephen, canonically, is routinely assumed to be a queer man by the average stranger. It is- not a running joke, but a running theme throughout the series, that Stephen is seen as a queer man.

2) Diana is incredibly socially intelligent; there is no way on earth she is not aware of the fact that Stephen gives off queer vibes.

3) Diana is also very much an insecure person. (As a person with BPD - albeit a person who is very much in recovery - she reminds me of myself at my worst mental health. I think she is a very empathetic but realistic idea of what borderline would look like in a wealthy Regency-era woman.) Her awareness of Stephen's - not necessarily his sexuality, but at the very least people's perception of it - would absolutely wear on her. Hell, Stephen himself told her:

I am not in the least degree interested in women as such,’ said Stephen. ‘Only in persons. 2-Post Captain, ch.3, paragraph 158

Which is a very interesting thing to say. She has poked fun at him about it, even - she is very much aware of how he comes off:

‘So you walked again? Are you not allowed out at night? Anyone would think you were married to that man. How are his affairs, by the way? He seemed cheerful enough this evening, laughing away with that goose Annie Strode.’ 2-Post Captain, ch.3, paragraph 158

I do not claim to speak for Patrick O'Brian, but I do know how to read critically, and I think it is a very reasonable read of Diana's actions in canon to think that part of her insecurity re: Stephen's affection for her is due to a latent fear that he is, in fact, not attracted to women. She is not correct, of course, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel it.