#why does it read so informal trying to be formal 😭

[papayafiles]

sincerely, the chairman of the tortured drivers department

[ranhaitanisgf]

Hello Hana💖 Can i request Tenjiku Ran + dating app? lol. Something like:he gave it a try just bc rindou forced him to do it, he had no interest in dates/romance until he matches with y/n (y/n also felt the same way?) then they have a date and became good friends? and after a lot of time spent together & enjoying each other's company ,they realize they are in love? idk, do you magic lol change everything if you want. (i trust your talent and i love that man so much that i'll be happy anyway) Maybe it's an awful idea 🌚 but i'm not longer a teenager //.u. i go to college and i have no other way to delulu how can i met him if it's not through those 💩 apps hehe.

Thank you sweetie, have a wonderful day🥺💖

i guess i can try it out...?

synopsis: rindou signed ran up for a dating app...how is this date going to go?

☆ a/n ˎˊ˗ i i i... STRUGGLED WITH THIS .... this was such a cute req and idea omg but i have never used a dating app 😭 i do not know if i did this right but ! i hope you all still enjoy !! and thank you so much anon for requesting this !! xoxoxo

☆ characters ˎˊ˗ ran haitani x g/n!reader

☆ wc ˎˊ˗ 1.8k+

masterlist 

❥ ran has never really found much interest in dating apps; why would he be interested in meeting someone in a fake way? maybe it’s the little romantic in him, but he doesn’t want to try to actually meet someone he wants to spend time with in a way that feels ‘fake’ to him. he wants to be able to meet someone he likes in an organic way, though he himself isn’t quite sure where this notion comes from, (maybe the romance movies his mom used to watch?). 

“here.”  “what’s all this?”  “you should find someone, aniki.” “oho? where’s this coming from all of a-” “you’re home too much.” 

❥ ran is genuinely hurt by this. 

❥ begrudgingly, he creates a loose profile, not putting a whole lot of effort into it. he doesn’t really see the point in all of this, so his profile consists of a single blurry picture of him with his brother, (not specifying which one he is) and his bio merely states his name, age, and that he likes to sleep. 

❥ surprisingly, he gets matches despite having such a bland and blank profile, but he doesn’t even respond to any of the messages asking to meet up or asking for more information about him. he leaves them all on read, feeling wholly uninterested in talking to any of the people who were trying to get to know him. 

❥ and so, rindou decides to take the matter into his own hands. he’s able to get a hold of ran’s phone rather easily, (the man does not wake up, so he was still snoring away while rindou entered his room) and proceeded to fix up his profile to a more suitable one, even going so far as to respond to at least one of the people who he thought might be a good match for his brother. 

❥ one can probably imagine ran’s surprise when he wakes up in the morning and sees his formal wear set out on his dresser, and you could most definitely imagine his surprise when he sees a ‘okay, sounds good! see you then :)’ message from the dating app on his phone. 

❥ he strides into the kitchen, his phone in hand as he pointedly looks at rindou, who is sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee while watching something on tv. there were no words said between the two of them for a few moments, rindou merely looking up at ran with a look that said ‘you got a problem?’. 

“rindou.” “aniki.” “dear brother…what is this?”  “you have a date today at 7.”  “i don’t think so.” “you’re going.” “no, i’m not. end of discussion.”

❥ it was not the end of the discussion. 

❥ ran ended up agreeing, but it was only because rindou promised to pay for his hair appointments for the next six months, (it was a pretty good deal; the salon he goes to is very expensive). he wasn’t too thrilled about this since he thought of it as more of a waste of time, but he decided to put on his nice clothes anyway, spraying some of his good cologne on his wrists and neck. he even left his hair out of its usual plaits, testing out a few different hairstyles before deciding to just leave it down. 

❥ before he left, he’d taken a glance at the profile of the person he was supposed to meet. despite the fact that he was annoyed about this date rindou had set up, he has to admit that his brother does know his tastes pretty well, so he starts to feel just the tiniest bit of amusement and curiosity, (maybe he should get flowers? nah, he’ll just play it casual and see where it goes). 

❥ when ran arrived, he wasn’t surprised to see it was a typical restaurant/bar type of place, though he was a bit amused at the fact that it was located still in roppongi, (he thinks it would be funny if someone came up to him in the middle of the date because they recognized him). 

˗ˏˋ𖤐ˎˊ˗

“hey, are you ran?” 

“hm?” ran looked up from his place at the bar, seeing a somewhat familiar face looking back at him. he leans a bit closer, his eyes squinting to get a clearer picture…ah, the person he’s supposed to be meeting. 

cute. 

he stood up from his spot at the bar, pasting a charismatic smile on his face as he held his hand out. “correct. you must be (y/n), right?” 

“yes! it’s nice to meet you!” you beamed, giving your hand for a handshake. ran was a bit amused when he noticed your rather firm grip while shaking hands, but it only made him just a bit more curious about you. 

the two of you went to sit down at your table, ran politely pulling your chair out for you, (he had been debating on whether or not to play the gentleman card, but he decided to go with it). after he sat himself down, he decided to wait for you to speak first, wondering if you were going to pique his interest. 

a few moments of silence passed by as he watched your eyes flicking around the place, examining everything before coming back to him. when the two of you made eye contact, your lips ghosted a polite smile, your fingers moving to fidget with a piece of your hair. 

“just to be clear, i’m not really into this whole…dating app thing. i think it’s kind of stupid, but my friends told me to go on at least one date, so i’m here. i’m sorry, i just…” you paused for a moment, pursing your lips. “...i didn’t want to give you the wrong idea. i hope we can still have a good time though.” 

consider his interest piqued. 

“well, if we’re clearing things up, then i’ll admit that these sorts of things are not something i enjoy. my brother is the one who messaged you, and i’m here because he said he would pay for my hair appointments if i came.” ran was curious as to how you would react at his words; would you make a scene by yelling at him and then leave? would you just storm out? maybe you would even cuss him out! 

what he wasn’t expecting was for you to let out a big sigh, seemingly of relief, as you laughed a bit, your posture seeming more relaxed and open. 

“hah! that’s so funny actually!” you mused. “i guess we’re the perfect match then, huh?” 

“seems like it.” ran answered, an amused smirk on his face. “maybe the whole matching thing on dating apps do work after all.” 

“right? this seems like too much of a coincidence to be true!” after a moment, you suddenly seemed to get an idea, leaning forward a bit with a grin. “how about we just hang out for tonight as potential friends? none of that weird polite romantic bullshit that you see in first dates. just two people getting to know each other, completely platonically.” ran let out a laugh at your suggestion, his lips upturned in a casual smile. 

“sure, why not?” 

˗ˏˋ𖤐ˎˊ˗

❥ for the rest of the night, the two of you had a pleasant time chatting about various topics, talking about the latest fashion and hair trends to how you secretly think that pigeons are spying on the people of the world, (ran wholeheartedly believes in your theory; you made a very good argument). he hadn’t been expecting something like this, but when the night ended, he realized that he actually felt a bit sad at the fact that the two of you were going to be parting ways.

❥ this fact made him quite amused, and so, he suggested that the two of you hang out again. as friends, he says, explaining that he actually enjoyed your company and chatting with you, (he felt a little bit more than that, but he could save that for another time). 

❥ when he comes home and rindou asks how everything went, he just laughs and says ‘it was interesting’ then turns in for the night, leaving rindou wondering what the hell happened, and does interesting mean good or bad??

❥ the next time he sees you is by coincidence while he’s out grocery shopping for the week. he happens to run into you in the ice cream aisle, though you see him before he sees you; he’s quite focused on which flavor of ice cream to buy. 

“ran?”  “hm? oh, (y/n). funny seeing you here.” “yeah, no kidding! which flavor are you eyeing?”

❥ the two of you decide to have an impromptu hangout after that, both of you going to your respective apartments to drop off your groceries before meeting at a nearby cafe. it wasn’t anything crazy but there was a comfortable vibe, casual conversation and playful jokes being exchanged between the two of you as you sipped on your drinks. 

❥ ran hadn’t expected to have enjoyed talking with you so much, but before he knew it, the sky outside had changed from blue to orange, the sun setting in the distance. now that he had hung out with you for a second time, he knew that he was definitely interested in you, your joking and fun personality being something that he genuinely enjoyed, (he thought that you were also pretty cute, but that was another thing). 

“hey, let me take you home.”  “haha, i thought we said we were just going to be friends?”  “i can’t take my friends home to make sure they’re safe?”  “hmm…well, if you insist! who would’ve known you were such a gentleman~” 

❥ there wasn’t anything romantic about it, but there was a bit of a palpable tension between the two of you as he walked you home; the way your hands were just barely brushing against each other, the way you two were walking much closer to each other than friends would normally do, the stolen looks in the silent moments…ran knew you were feeling it too, but neither of you said anything. 

❥ there were no words spoke about it when the two of you arrived at your apartment, both of you just saying your goodbyes and leaving. ran is for the most part a patient man, so there’s a part of him that wants to keep quiet and see where everything goes. on the other hand, he wants to bring it up to you and maybe see where it takes the two of you. 

ranh_18: you looked good today. are you free on saturday? let me take you out for real this time.

❥ ran supposes he can be impatient every once in a while.

[eresia-catara]

So, not trying to assume that Dante wasn’t straight but were he and Guido more than pals?? 😭

Diversity win! Your failed-friar poet and heretical philosopher are tangled in a tragic bromance!

but really, look. look. none of us here is assuming anything okay? but. none of us here is saying he was straight either alright? We can speculate both ways, considering the great margin of interpretation that sources leave us, but this is tumblr dot com no one wants to hear why Dante could be straight, so here is why he could not be (based on the philological and critical skills of someone who has NO authority + lots of essays I've read),,, under the cut.

I personally think it wouldn't be an unfathomable interpretation, seeing as there are elements that point to that; but I prefer to proceed with order, so let's first analyse Dante and Guido individually, and then together (otherwise my speech becomes a confusing ramble).

So, if we want to focus on what Dante ALONE tells us about his sexuality, we don't have many solid arguments. In general, the topic arises through his Comedy:

as we know, he put sodomites in Hell (Inf. XV-XVI). In it, we find three politicians (XVI), whom he speaks to with the formal voi (in english it's a plural you), instead of tu (singular you) which is informal and in Hell is used to basically look down on the damned; furthermore, this act of respect is strongly enouraged by Virgil before he speaks to them, and Dante expressedly says that, if it hadn't been for the raining fire, he would've gotten closer to them to hug them. So we can see that there isn't the usual disgust or harshness. This voi is also used for Brunetto Latini (XV), his teacher from youth, whom we know for certainty was a sodomite (thanks to a sonnet Latini wrote). The two have an affectionate conversation and Dante shows to profoundly respect the man. About this behaviour, Boccaccio, in his commentary on the Comedy, writes that since Dante showed compassion towards those sins of which he himself felt guilty of, perhaps he was a sodomite too. Now, I am not usually inclined to believe Boccaccio when talking about facts, but this does seem at least reasonable.

what people often ignore is that Dante put sodomites in Purgatory too. And what is more astonishing, is that he puts them right before the garden of Eden (instead of towards the bottom, seeing as Purgatorio is the mirrored version of Inferno), together with heterosexuals. Basically, the sin becomes not sodomy, but lust. This implies that he saw sodomy as 1) a forgivable sin (not an obvious statement, considering the changing society at the time) and 2) just as serious as heterosexual lust. However, there is a contradiction with Inferno, where they are distinct and sodomy is a lot worse that heterosexual lust (the former, as I've said, is found in the canti XV-XVI, the latter in canto V). This could be explained through the fact that homosexuality implies a sin against nature, which the other one doesn't have, but then we circle back to Purgatory, where they should be put further down as they have technically sinned more. Things don't add up, and when things don't add up, especially with Dante who was obsessed with symmetries and symbology, it has to make us raise our eyebrows. Who knows what little theological game he played in his mind to get to this conclusion? But more so, why did he play in the first place?

From the social point of view, Dante was more traditional, which at the time meant being more accepting of homosexuality; in fact, it is towards the XIVth century that judges start burning sodomites at the stake, pressured by the burgeoisie which Dante despised, while before they usually only imposed a fine, and Florence in particular was more tolerant than the rest of Italy.

Now, with Guido things are different. We have objectively less material to work with, but what we have is less vague. First of all, Dino Compagni (politician, poet, writer, collegue of Guido inside the Commune for a while) in his Chronica tells us Corso Donati had given him a nickname, 'cavicchia', which can be interpreted as 'passive sodomite'. But sure, Corso was his number one enemy, of course he'd say that. Okay, but his wife's brother says the same, in a different way. Guido basically writes a poem about a shepherdess having sex with him and his brother in-law slips in and goes 'Look. just admit it was a guy. I talked to a guy who confirmed this.' But let's be picky and say he was joking. it's just satyre between family members. Okay. But then there's this correspondence with Guido Orlandi (a friend) in which they debate about a statement our Guido had made in a poem, with which Orlandi did not agree, and they insult each other. A critic once suggested there was a double meaning to the correspondence, because the terms used and the phrasing suggested a second layer of interpretation, that is, one in which Orlandi, among the many things, accuses Guido of being....a passive sodomite! Or...a bisexual man! (bi win!). If I remember correctly (forgive me I cannot check the exact words right now), he said something along the lines of 'when you can't get the ladies you turn to the men' or 'when you can't get the young men, you turn to the older ones', it depends on the interpretation, but anyway the preference for a passive role was in both. Yes, you could argue he was in need of insults, he made them up merely to be offensive! But the same insult from three different men, with three different relationships with Guido? Finally, going back to his shepherdess poem, he DID write that it was the shepherdess who led him under the tree, when usually it is the man! And mind you, this type of poem has a vast tradition in provencal poetry, there was a clear code to follow that Guido knew perfectly...and decided to ignore. And if we consider him an atheist and nobleman, he didn't even have religious or social motives to be against sodomy. Heck, he probably didn't giva a fuck.

So let's consider the final question: were Guido and Dante more than pals for life? It seems that Dante spent his 20s and 30s among queer men, in a notoriously queer space that is the literary field. It seems that the two most important figures in his life, two teachers, were not so straight, just like...who? Virgil? Dante knew Virgil's Bucolics full well, he knew Virgil was not straight. So is it a coincidence that we can make extensive parallelisms not only between Virgil and Guido, but also between Virgil, Guido and Brunetto Latini? All three of them teachers, poets, deeply admired and respected by Dante, none of them are judged, they were all benevolent towards him, all queer (specifically, two out of three are certainly queer). Dante himself says most of the damned in the circle of sodomites were clergymen and intellectuals. As I have said, there are no coincidences with Dante, that little freak calculated everything (I say this with affection). And if we shift towards Guido's perspective, the sonnet addressed to Dante 'I vegno il giorno a te infinite volte reads like a true break up poem. Guido says 'I come to you [Dante] infinite times a day but in a way that you can't see me', a.k.a. 'I think of you constantly even if you don't know it'. I mean. you can't really deny much with this statement. An important critic tried to interpret it as the god Love talking to Dante, but another respected critic accused a contradiction in the resulting meaning of the poem, with which I tend to agree (I will not dive into it because this post is already long), so the only redeeming hypothesis falls.

In the end we don't have exactly concrete proofs, but at the same time the fact that there are all these details, all these arguments that are coherent with each other, mathematically speaking, make it probable that not only this is a real, concrete question, but also that it could be the truth. Alas, we would still need more informations which we will likely not have :0

Hope this post helped! At the end of the day, no one can stop you from making love win on tumblr dot com 🌈