#tragic bl

[divineandmajesticinone]

"I can't go back and fix it..."

[ahxiang]

tortured jin xiao bao..... for science

[secriden]

Absolutely heartrending because it just hit me that before Bison's phone call, Fadel was actually began to believe that he'd been wrong to suspect Style. Because despite the evidence stacked against Style -- and remember, it was Fadel that spells out the reasons they have to be suspicious of Kant and Style -- Style is so incredibly genuine here and Fadel, in truth, wanted to believe in him.

I think it's possible that Fadel actually saw Style through the window here, but pretended not to because he had to take a moment to prepare himself. But if you see where Style is standing and the way the patio is lit up, there's no reason why Fadel shouldn't have seen him from where he was by the tables before he turns to go behind the counter.

Fadel: I was thinking of going to your place. But you were more impatient than me, huh?

This would also explain how Fadel is able to say this before Style even has the chance to make a sound. I had expected Fadel to wait and see what Style would say, to play it safe and observe; but no, Fadel immediately sets their dynamic back to the assumption of familiarity that their relationship was on before he disappeared for a week. The assumption that he could show up at Style's house unannounced and Style would welcome him.

This feels incredibly intentional. Fadel wants to see how Style is going to react to Fadel acting as if nothing strange happened. If Style was an informant, he should be confused and Fadel may catch him out in a lie.

But Style's performance is flawless:

Style: Where have you been? You didn't reply any of my texts! (punctuation added for emphasis and to mimic Style's tone)

He says this and the whine in his tone is a clear affirmation of that same assumption of familiarity. This is the tone used by someone who is secure in the knowledge that they are owed an explanation; this is the tone of someone in an established relationship who feels justifiably wronged at being left out of the loop.

And I cry a little bit more at the thought of Fadel reading those texts -- Style by turns frantic and confused and worried -- and refusing to respond. Or worse, receiving them and refusing to even read them because Fadel doesn't trust himself to tell the lies from the truth anymore.

At this point, Fadel seems to waver a little bit in his resolve to "test" Style. I think he was a little taken aback that Style didn't seem to be even a little bit weird about his abrupt disappearance for a week. His reply takes on a quality of gentle pleading and the way he's speaking is exactly like a boyfriend who knows he messed up. But because these lines are a lie, Fadel cannot meet Style's eyes as he says them. It's only when he says "I was busy, too" (not a lie) that he's finally able to squarely meet Style's gaze again.

And Style continues to be so convincingly NORMAL because all of this is real for him. This is just genuinely Style, the boyfriend, who actually wants to know where his boyfriend disappeared to without notice for a whole week. Nothing about his body language or tone has even a hint of inauthenticity because there is none. Style means every single word and meets Fadel's gaze squarely as he says them.

It genuinely looks to me like Fadel thaws significantly at this point. He suddenly looks less stiff and the way he delivers this line contains so much more inflection, it becomes cajoling. He even begins to more consistently meet Style's eyes as Fadel begins to allow himself some honesty. Fadel's logical brain knows that the circumstances surrounding Style coming into his life are riddled with inconsistencies, but he both senses and WANTS to see Style's sincerity. The shields that Fadel had up are melting in the face of Style being present and unchanged from what Fadel remembers.

Stay, Fadel all but says, let me make it up to you. Fadel offering to make food for Style (@braceletofteeth please hold me as I cry about this!!) is also significant because the last time Fadel made food for Style (the burger) is when he was softening towards Style after Style helped out at the diner during the rush crowd. Fadel is a creature of habit and all that he's learned of late are the ways Style is easy to love.

They begin to fall back into their usual, playful banter and teasing dynamic. Style leans back against the table (and the way he's all unspoken surrender and submission -- throat arched up and bare and vulnerable -- truly makes me feral), turns up the flirt and Fadel responds in kind. And yes, Fadel means his question on some level but you don't get the sense that his heart is in the interrogation. Fadel may be going through the motions, but this is just Style being himself, exactly as Fadel has come to know (and love), so nothing is pinging as wrong to Fadel.

I mean, just LOOK AT FADEL'S EYES!! His expression is so so soft and tender and wistful. He wants this. He wants so desperately to believe that this is why Style was texting him throughout the week. He wants to have Style in all the ways that include and go beyond the physical; like Style offering his affection is everything Fadel didn't think he could wish for.

It's almost cruel the way Style's touch so utterly disarms Fadel. Because, while it is part of the games they've been playing, so much of their interactions have also been grounded in genuine feelings and moments of intense vulnerability on both sides (although neither of them know this for sure!! T_T). Style's hands on Fadel's body literally removes the last stretch of distance between them and that odd unease lingered over the way Fadel spoke and held himself at the start of the scene finally disappears.

If we compare their expressions and the way they are holding themselves and, most importantly, touching each other by the end of the scene to what we see when Style first walks into the diner, it becomes apparent just how much ground Fadel has given in the span of those few minutes.

It's the way Fadel keeps holding onto Style's hand even as he's turning to leave, maintaining that point of contact until the very last second.

Because with Style in front of him -- warm and familiar and carelessly affectionate -- Fadel allows himself to slip back to the version of himself that woke up in Style's bed at the start of the episode, the version of himself that called Style's name for the first time and wanted to wake him up with the softest of touches. The version of himself that literally, physically couldn't let Style go.

Which is why, when the call comes and Fadel's heart gets broken anew, Fadel remains devastatingly empty of anger towards Style.

Because it was Fadel's own fault for choosing to believe the lie.

Because it was a decision he made to allow his heart to rule over his head.

Because Fadel understands that Style only succeeded in "fooling" him once again because Fadel let him.

So Fadel gives himself this truth, allows himself to finally take that step to bare his heart to Style, the way he promised himself he never would, but the way he so desperately wanted.

And Style kisses Fadel because he doesn't realise that this confession is not a reward, but a judgement.

For Fadel is paying penance for giving in to his own foolish heart, and in so doing renders Style's love to devastation.

[sakinyeh]

why does chigiri keep acting like kunigami is his husband that died in the war

[khaoray]

I will. I will bring you back. And we will see each other again. I promise.

@asiandramanet april bingo: tropes & lgbtq+ rep

[apathetic-microwave]

They make me cry

[f4rm]

[kouraissant]

In the examination of a (love poem) name

On a name that was a love poem, On Yudrein Aile, On Eternity (Above) The Vine, Tennessee Williams / Chapter 445, Turning, 쿠유 / Dear [ ], Nick Lantz (2018) / Soft Human, Emery Allen / Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult / Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking, C. T. Salazar / Maria, West Side Story (Below) Letters to Milena, Franz Kafka

[pharawee]

People say that if you hold your breath, ghosts won't be able to see you.

—THE HIDDEN MOON · เดือนพราง · Episode 01

[decepti-thots]

starscream was born too early to be a Tumblr sexyman specifically but you must understand. starscream has in spirit been a sexyman since the TF fandom had enough reach for everyone to share their sexyman vision for him. i got into TF via TFA in 2007, when Livejournal was still clinging on in the interstitial period when we were all moving away and ff.net was still where i was reading most of my fic. it was well established by then. it was an era when Armada starscream still had an influence on us all; the importance of Armada on the fandom understanding of Starscream simply cannot be underestimated, by the way, if you were there, you know. but even beyond that. half the shit you may think of as a Post Tumblr Fandom Phenomenon is nothing of the sort. they were doing that shit to my guy on geocities personal fic archives dated like, 2001. i have saved snapshots of NSFW fic archives hosted on literal actual porn webhosts (back in the days when that was a thing people did) featuring the most elaborately weird no homo m/m starscream fic you can imagine. so much of the TF Starscream Fanon Stuff TM predates every major platform we now even talk on. he has had this effect on particular parts of the fandom for like. thirty years now. a true constant. incredible, really. inspiring.

[rythyme]

The Fallen Angel is one of my favorite paintings to see adapted as fanart bc it slaps EVERY TIME but one of the biggest tragedies in my humble opinion is that most of you will never experience the phenomenal sluttery and homoeroticism of the Fallen Angel nude model painting scene in Not Me: The Series.

[functionalasfuck]

Love for Love’s Sake is really just out here giving us two people who have terrible self worth, who can’t understand how anyone could possibly love them, and making them fall in love with their mirror image. Therefore proving they are worth happiness and love.

[byemambo]

KIM NU RIM AS DOHOE

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (2024) | 1.01

Ready to get my heart crushed by another Hwang Da Seul production </3

[tomo-mogge]

Sigh…

They got me with their tragic and disgusting yaoi.

(/j i love em)

[heretherebedork]

And here we see, in action, Pete's greatest character flaw... his taste in men.

We get it Pete but maybe also talk to him about not raping people?

[joseigamer]

Patalliro! is fascinating to me because of stuff like this. It's unapologetically gay - even within its anime which aired during primetime hours in 1982 - in a way that many later BL manga would never be, like the ones from the early 2000s which would never dare to call their characters actual homosexuals. Patalliro has actually aged quite well in this regard, there's something comforting about how campy it is.