I'll shut up soon, but I keep thinking about how Ruben is the quiet tragedy in If This Gets Out. There are so many comments about his life that are dropped in and left there.
Like, he was raised by an emotionally abusive narcissist and a father who never stood up for him against her. He went to music camp to please his mom, and makes friends with a guy (Jon) on her orders. Because of this, he ends up in the band formed by Jon's famous father, where he is forced to hide his sexuality when he doesn't want to, and limit his own talent in case he outshines the other band members. He dates a bunch of guys that abuse him the same way his mother did, treating him as something they can use for their own gains, and is (alluded to) SAd or close to it when he's forced to do things for them in order to keep them and their "love".
Then he finally finds something real with the guy he has feelings for (Zach) and Zach immediately freaks out and pulls away, leaving Ruben terrified he's going to lose his whole found family. He's incredibly anxious and afraid because he's spent his whole life being told he's not lovable if he isn't perfect and doing things for other people. Zach (accidentally) calls Ruben ugly in front of the world, while ignoring him (imagine kissing your crush, only to have him pull away, promise to talk then continually cancel your attempts to work through it, and then telling the world they can't see why people would find you attractive!) My heart broke at that part.
Then they finally work things out and he finally gets a moment of happiness, for probably the first time in his life, and abusive people in power (the story of his life) start interfering and separating him and Zach. To add to it, he's been begging to come out so he doesn't have to sneak around and lie and be afraid (which is another layer of trauma) every time he loves someone, and he finally discovers they're never going to let him come out, and he has to sacrifice his own happiness and wellbeing for the band. Then when the band rally around him and try to help him come out anyway, he's literally and figuratively silenced by his abusers, who then take him to court for 'defamation' when all he's doing is finally speaking out about the years of abuse he's endured.
I also found it very smart how the authors juxtapose Zach and Ruben, because most characters view Zach as the people-pleaser, but Ruben has that in common with Zach. The whole book, Ruben allows himself to be silenced and shoved into a corner for the band, allows his literal identity to be denied for the band, gives Zach plenty of grace to work through his bisexuality even when it crosses over into cruelty sometimes, allows his Mom to emotionally abuse him while still buying her property etc... Ruben's toxic trait of people pleasing is called out less than Zach's but it's as much at the heart of his arc as it is Zach's. In a way, two people-pleasers found each other and were so horrified at each other's insistence on neglecting themselves, they managed to convince each other to stand up for themselves.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
“why sister daniel and blond phil? this is just phil! this is phil all the time! this is not dan before the clock strikes 12, this is just phil now!” no no i can accept that phil is blond now like i will concede that this:
is phil. but this:
is NOT phil. this is a butch lesbian with a motorcycle who is dating sister daniel. nothing you say will convince me of anything else ok. that’s not phil that’s the head of DOB leading the march before going to pick up her girlfriend from the convent for hot lesbian sex. they have nothing to do with dan and phil. separate entities. stop lesbian erasure 😤
zach is truly the type of struggling person to say "alright I'm going to bed" and then as soon as he shuts the door you hear the world is ugly by mcr blasting
what is a headcanon you have about the igto boys that you don't talk about?
optional: and why?
A lot of like 3-4 years+ into the future post canon type stuff. Mostly cause none of them are fleshed out enough to be coherent lol. Some more fleshed out things that I just never posted about tho in case you wanted specifics:
The boys decide to stop doing Saturday at the 23-24 range
Not cause they hate it but to do different things in their lives
After that Zach and Ruben move to New York and Ruben starts doing Broadway (and eats)
Zach goes solo (also eats)
Jon helps produce and write the songs (think Taylor Swift and Jack Atinof)
Angel goes big in on philanthropy and supports charities based around rehab ("if I can stop even one person from going through what I went through that's a major win")
Ok but like what IS Ruben's aesthetic and what clothes does he like???
We know Jon likes to dress more on the modest side - im picturing dark academia, Angel likes to be a more revealing - for him I picture like 70's glam/stage wear, and Zach loves emo culture, but what about Ruben? His Galatic/Chorus costume was a soft dark academia boy, but what does he really like to wear? I feel like despite being one of the main characters, the book doesn't go too deep into this???
omg no way, "if this gets out" has an actual fandom ????!!! I've been waiting for so long for this book to have a fandom and there was one this entire time ?
Hey @hsdarcy345, @i-like-books-and-women, @starsforhours and any other accounts who likes itgo 😊. Let's make a deal:
I give you :
this doodle of Jon
and :
this song which I think fits really well Jon and Angel's friendship :)
And in turn, I'm accepted in the fandom ! Alright, we made a deal ? (please I'm begging you)
dan SPECIFICALLY picking that top for phil because it said ANGEL. because of phil's established angel energy? the biker jacket phlonde reveal?? dan saying "are you my angle?" while gently flicking phil's face in the bday livestream???
and him going "WHAAAT" bc phil didn't like the top or even notice that it said that 😔 dan's genius will never be appreciated in its time smh