cupofteainme

[cupofteainme]

He stands where the ocean meets the storm - and somehow, he's the most beautiful thing there.

- urlonelymoon

[cupofteainme]

Edvin Ryding for Wonderland (2025)

[cupofteainme]

Linus Ek

[cupofteainme]

[cupofteainme]

the way wille has to bend down to keep kissing simon while they're undressing eo...their height difference is more noticeable than usual in this scene and i love it

[cupofteainme]

Because it’s Mermay I was reminded of the little mermaid AU and now I’m obsessed 😂

[cupofteainme]

An excellent Young Royals Wilmon edit from 2021 (so only with footage from Season 1) that is really good. It’s on YouTube, so please consider going over there and giving it a like and/or a comment. The creator Dazleon doesn’t appear to have a presence on Tumblr.

This edit was recced to me by my WhatsApp buddy Amy. Who I think does have a Tumblr presence, but I’ve forgotten their handle on here.

[cupofteainme]

August Strindberg - The Town (1903)

[cupofteainme]

@fairycosmos / Comic by @shhhitsfine / Comic by @incendavery

[cupofteainme]

I am not ok

[cupofteainme]

EDVIN RYDING | Elle gala 2025 [x]

[cupofteainme]

If [Simon] has moved on so fast, what did I mean to him?

Crown Prince Wilhelm (and Felice) in Young Royals 2.02

[cupofteainme]

[cupofteainme]

All the birthday photos of young royals (as in, literally) I've seen in my feed recently really made me think about the fact there's a series of portraits of Wilhelm, depicting how he was growing up. Then they'll have this gala photoshoot for his 18th birthday and it will be one of those moments when he will think about Erik a lot, because he still remembers the day Erik turned 18; it was so special and also cool, because he's an adult now, and Wilhelm at 13 years old thought it's so far far away for him, and "at least there will be less fuss about my birthday since I'm not the heir". Next moment he's 18, his brother is gone for almost two years now, and he, in fact, does not feel as a cool adult.

[cupofteainme]

Bara sex ('Just sex') on SVT Play

In the last two days, I watched this teen show that has apparently been very popular in Sweden. A summery little show sounded like a great way to stave off the boredom of being ill, and I also recognised it from tumblr (although it doesn't actually seem to have a fandom on here).

My own summary with minor spoilers:

S1 is about Miriam, 16, who has decided to have sex for the first time at a songwriting summer camp she and her gay friend Fabian are attending. She picks Cesar, 18, to do it with. Fabian thinks both Cesar and his friend Adam are douchebags, but Miriam thinks he seems nice, and it's just for sex anyway. (Maybe Fabian should try to find someone too?) S2 still features Miriam and Cesar, now 18 and 20, but we are equally treated to Fabian and Adam's POVs. Fabian has invited Miriam, Cesar, and some local friends including his neighbour Sebastian to celebrate Midsummer at his family's summer house. Things turn tense when Adam tags along uninvited, Cesar and Miriam are keeping secrets from each other, and Miriam's ex(es?) might be coming too.

Trailers for both seasons - but do not watch the S2 trailer unless you want to be spoiled for S1!

There are four eps in S1 and five in S2, 20 to 30 minutes each. There will be a third season due to high demand, but the first two were written as a mini-series. So, they are meant to be seen together and they tell a pretty complete story.

If you're only interested in queer romance, you may be tempted to just watch S2, as S1 is entirely from Miriam and Cesar's POVs. You can do that - indeed, important scenes involving Fabian that aren't shown in S1 are flashbacks in S2! But you will miss out on some nice glimpses of his story, as well as essential background to everyone's plot lines in S2.

If you are interested, SVT has made Bara sex available to stream from anywhere in the world, even without VPN! The downside is that there are only Swedish subs available, but you can try watching on your computer with a browser that offers Live Captions into English. Apparently, Microsoft Edge has that option, you just have to turn it on.

Those who speak other Nordic languages can also turn to their own public broadcasters' streaming services. Yle Areena has both seasons, NRK TV has S1 so far (sorry Danes, nothing on DR TV). Those links do require VPN if you aren't in Finland/Norway.

So is it good? Well, it's no SKAM, but I liked it!

The cinematography is beautiful with lovely Nordic summer vibes. The young actors feel quite natural in their roles - the occasional awkwardness is deliberate and feels appropriate to the characters and their interactions. The script is pretty solid for what it is: teenage relationship drama and struggles with self (don't expect very deep themes, although there is one darker plot point in S2). You do have to watch the whole thing to get a good grasp of the characters and their motivations, but once you do, they feel more consistent than some characters in Rykter, for example.

And yes, there is sex in this. Lots of straight sex in both seasons, and some gay sex in S2. It's very well done, realistic, about the same level of bold as in SKAM or Young Royals (the same intimacy coordinator also worked on YR S3). The creator of the show says she wrote Bara sex as a counterweight to an investigative journalism report on rough sex trends among teenagers: she wanted to highlight sex as a positive experience and taking charge of one's own pleasure.

Anyway, just wanted to share in case anyone else was interested!

ETA: I have just discovered that Malin B. Erikson isn't the only connection to YR! Two of the main actors also worked on the show as extras with a couple of lines.

Leo Harju (Cesar) was the Marieberg student whose phone Malin took on the camping trip in 3.02:

...while Alexander Klum (Adam) was the guy who told Wille about dinner all the way back in 1.01. He also appeared in the background in later seasons, e.g. at church behind Henry and Walter in 2.01:

Small world, eh?

[cupofteainme]

[cupofteainme]

Cheers!

me, looking at the 15k chapter @cupofteainme wrote: we did it