#wiew? view? waan? wan? manaow? manow? manao? preuk? pruk?

[thebroccolination]

Well hi there, friends!

Hope you had a majestic weekend in which nothing emotionally devastating happened to you! Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to today’s episode of:

🔥 NO ONE’S ALLOWED TO BE SINGLE: THE SERIES 🔥

the show where we pair the spares! Because sure, people can and do find emotional fulfillment in life without a romantic partner and it’s a very good thing for media to showcase more stories in which a character’s positive function has nothing to do with romance.

But when you’re a gross romantic mess like me, you’re gonna do some nonsense anyway!

Let’s meet today’s subject for datehood!

👏👏👏

View! ❤︎

Youngest of the Wanichakarnjonkul brothers and literal sunshine baby, View has expressed a keen interest in girls, but seeing as his brother is a bi icon, we at Bisexuals R Us have decided that View could be, too, so we’re gonna find him a potential boyfriend. Whee!

(Isn’t fandom fun? 🥳)

View’s a sweetheart and a snuggler, and he’s also the loudest and the brashest of the three Wanichakarnjonkul brothers. For what seems like a big chunk of his life, his parents were too occupied with work and his oldest brother too pressured by expectations to pay much attention to him. As a result, View was closest to the chronic middle child Win, the only one who cared enough to make time for him, drive him to school, and praise him when he did well. He seems to be hiding the full scope of his loneliness for most of the series.

By the end of Between Us, View’s family has accepted that they have issues and seem willing to work them out, but with the parents still running a massive resort chain, Wan living in Chonburi, and Win about to graduate and move to London for a two-year graduate program, View’s going to be on his own even more than before despite his family trying their best to be better for each other, and he’ll be without the family member he’s closest to.

Seems like a prime opportunity for View to find himself a boyfriend, don’t it!

Let’s peruse the candidates!

• Thiu (My School President)

Student council member and all-around swell dude, Thiu is the utterly loyal best friend of his school’s president. He’s also one of the least judgmental characters in his series, willing to follow Tinn into student council and instantly reshape his perception of Tinn’s crush on Gun after a brief bit of exposition. He is, in fact, a Good good boy.

He’d be the perfect partner for someone who’s been alone, someone who could use some loyalty and support. He also comes with a giant friend group of loud, good-hearted idiots who’d never let a boy go hungry. Plus, he’s not in a club that forbids dating.

After listening to Tinn wail and bawl into his ear about his crush on Gun for literal years, Thiu could do with a crush of his own. Especially if that crush is just as much of a sunshine baby anime protagonist as Gun is. Tinn will be amused for the rest of forever, and Thiu wouldn’t mind it. Much.

Here’s how I see them:

“Don’t eat that,” Thiu says. “Trust me—it’s a week old.” He kicks the paper plate of barbecued pork slices into the garbage can beside the low table, wrinkling his nose.

“Six days isn’t a week, Thiu!” Pat yells from behind the drums, his face the picture of mortally offended.

“It’s still gross, though,” Gun admits. “Why didn’t we throw it out?”

“It was pickling,” Win says.

“Molding,” Sound corrects.

View spends the next thirty seconds watching Win and Sound squabble over the difference between molding meat and pickling meat, and he doesn’t realize how wide he’s grinning until Thiu rests an elbow on his shoulder. He tips his chin up and enjoys being the focal point of someone’s attention in such a chaotic space. He joined student council without much idea of what he was doing, and Thiu spotted him quickly, a kindred spirit without much direction in life but a vast fondness for it just the same.

“Wanna go get food that’s edible?” Thiu asks.

View says, “Can we come back?”

They’re supposedly checking in on all the club activities, and Tinn clearly has this one covered by the way he’s merrily simpering at Gun from the bench by the wall, but the energy in the room is infectiously bright, and View feels it down to his toes.

Thiu’s smile warms. He dips his fingers into View’s hair and ruffles vigorously. “Sure. Your treat.”

“What? Why me? Thiu! Thiu!”

• Wat (The Eclipse)

Pressured by his family to become an engineer instead of attending film school, Wat spends most of his series struggling to build the confidence to follow the path he’s dreamed of. He’s a loyal friend like Thiu, not to mention perceptive and frank with his emotions and opinions. He’s also fair and thoughtful.

Confidence is something View has in spades, and he’d be a relentless cheerleader for someone with passion who needs a push and a supportive hand.

He’d benefit from Wat’s quiet consideration and companionship. Wat comes with a slightly smaller friend group, but an immensely loyal and kind one.

Here’s how I see them:

There are camera pieces on the table, and View picks up one of them to investigate. It looks like a lens, and he remembers that those are far, far too expensive for the casual way he’s handling it. With owl-eyed panic, he slowly returns the lens to where he found it. He’s already gone to his mother once this month for money to fix the computer he dropped; she might punish him by making him ask his father, and then he’ll have to throw himself out of a hot air balloon to mourn his broken dignity.

“What are you doing?” Wat asks. He’s in the doorway wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and a band keeping his hair away from his washed face, eyebrows lifted.

“I’m just curious,” View says. He’s aware there’s a hint of a whine there, so he beams instead. “Hey, what’s this?” He points to the lens, careful not to touch.

Wat studies him with a slow-growing smile. “That’s what I was saving up for when I met you. I want to add more long-range photographs to my portfolio.”

View nods eagerly like he understands why that matters. He and Wat may attend the same art school, but Wat has a passion and a direction that View’s never had. He glows when he talks like this, and View can only pretend he gets it because he likes to see that light in Wat shine.

“Want me to show you?” Wat asks, peeking at View as he assembles his camera.

Sometimes Wat seems so hesitant before sharing what makes him enthusiastic about life, and View doesn’t know why, but he’s determined to prove that at least with him, Wat doesn’t need to be anxious about judgment.

“Definitely! Just…don’t let me hold it for too long.”

• Non (Dark Blue Kiss)

Now, I know what you’re thinking: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. And y’know what, fair! He’s a little kick-in-the-kidneys and he sucks and I spent the last few minutes searching for a screencap of him muttering, “Where are you, you malignant little pustule?”

But! Non’s serious flaws aside, he also has the most to grow. He’s a physically abused queer kid with a ragingly homophobic father whose wealth and power make him pretty close to untouchable by the consequences of his actions. Non’s shitty behavior in his series is a reflection of his upbringing and his current circumstances. Kid’s still in high school, and he’s clearly miserable.

Where I see potential in him is that he’s powerfully drawn to kindness. He sees Kao as safe, and he knows he doesn’t have a real shot because Kao is a lovely weirdo in love with his sweet dumbass boyfriend, so he tries to destroy their relationship. I don’t think he ever seriously thought Kao would love him; I think he was trying to force Kao to be in his life without offering the vulnerability someone like Kao would have happily responded to. If he had asked Kao for help instead of trying to manipulate his way closer, he could have had multiple strong allies: not only Kao but Pete and the whole friend group. He’s a wounded, confused little insect of a boy, but he has potential to be more with the right motivation.

Especially if someone kind and loud with a stubborn streak and a supportive (and equally powerful and wealthy) family behind him took an interest in him.

Here’s how I see them:

“Why do you keep sitting with me?” Non asks his congee. “People are starting to talk about you.”

View blinks and checks the tables around them. There’s one girl eyeing them, but on closer inspection of her lips moving, she’s trying to read View’s English T-shirt.

“I don’t think people care that I sit with you,” View says. “I think they got bored of the whole thing already.”

Non says nothing to that. He hasn’t looked up since View sat down and started asking questions about Non’s time behind the camera. The competition was all anyone talked about for a while, and Non walked the halls like foreign royalty on official visits. When Pete exposed his worst side for the world to see in defense of the man whose life Non nearly destroyed, the school body took back their adulation and sharpened it.

View watched it play out without an impulse to join in or prevent it. He’d never talked to Non before and he hadn’t cared about the competition enough to understand the fawning over the competitors. But when the rational critiques of Non’s behavior reached a conclusion and the students collectively ostracized him, the school’s few bloodthirsty homophobes smelled abandoned carrion and closed in.

View heard some of it in the hallways. He saw them gaining confidence when taunting Non got them the occasional sharp retort or frightened recoil. Hia Wan would step in and take them out. Hia Win would talk them down.

View took the third route: he made himself Non’s ally. Not because he liked him, exactly. It just felt right. It felt kind.

Non takes a bottled tea from his bag and rolls it across the table to View without looking at him. “Drink something,” he says, “or you’ll look weird just sitting there watching me eat.”

View feels a smile grow. “Okay.”

————

There we have it!

Three different candidates!

Three different vibes!

Now, it’s time for audience participation!

🥁🥁🥁