harpscity - Tumblr blog

[harpscity]

I am DECEASED.

Screaming, crying, not at all ready for what season three holds for them.

[harpscity]

I’m happy you found yourself but I’m angry I couldn’t be the one to help you do it.

You say it doesn’t make me a bad friend, but I think it does.

A true friend is supposed to SEE you.

Why couldn’t I see how you were suffocating yourself for everyone around us?

Suffocating yourself for ME.

I want you to breathe.

I wanted to be your oxygen.

[harpscity]

the symbolism in this show goes actually INSANE

thought daughters (gender neutral) unite

Nick Nelson's Comphet Hair Sweep

Hear me out. You know this gesture?

This is Nick Nelson's Comphet Hair Sweep™️.

I'll be sidestepping the trees today in favour of the forest (i.e., skipping over the other layers that any single instance of this gesture may involve in favour of the theme that unifies them: comphet).

'Comphet' = compulsory heterosexuality

For the purposes of this post, I mean that Nick uses his 'hair sweep' gesture when he's feeling self-conscious about his sexuality and is feeling compelled – from somewhere internal, external or both – to be or appear heterosexual.

Now then! Let's look at every single instance where Nick does his Comphet Hair Sweep (and a couple of times he doesn't, to support the point).

Season 1

Episode 1: Charlie's existence and awesomeness are causing a lot of confusion for Nick (a.k.a. Nick is trying to bury his sexuality head in the sand). In this episode, Nick's Hair Sweeps are all or almost all about him trying to reassure himself of or reassert for himself his heterosexuality.

1. This is one of Nick and Charlie's early "hi"s, seen during their "hi" montage. Nick: “Hi, I don't find you cute, everything's Normal.”

2. During lunch, Nick is playing rugby with the lads and Charlie is distracted by watching him. 'Coincidentally', Nick does his Hair Sweep right after Charlie looks over. Or maybe he's just feeling like he needs to be straight lad/bro-y with his rugby mates. Either way, there doesn't seem to be any hair in Nick's face that actually needs pushing out of the way.

3. Nick hears Coach Singh praise Charlie's running and looks over to watch. Nick is impressed and not staring at all.

4. Charlie tackles Nick for the first time. This physical contact is perhaps more Something than either of them was expecting.

5. Nick tackles Charlie. We don't see Nick's face while he does the Hair Sweep but all of his other faces surrounding this moment suggest surprise, enjoyment and confusion that are not solely related to Charlie's improvement at rugby. (Hello, leaves. Thanks for the reinforcement.)

-----------------

Episode 2: For the majority of this episode, we see Nick spending time alone with Charlie. He seems to be setting aside any confusion in favour of having carefree fun with Charlie earlier on and then later explores his sexuality a bit rather than avoiding it or pushing it down. As a result, we have only one Comphet Hair Sweep in this episode, during the transition between Nick's approaches.

1. Charlie helps Nick play the drums. Nick, steeling himself a very hetero-normal amount: “This is fine. Charlie can be pressed against me from shoulder to knee and I'll feel nothing.” (Narrator: He did not, in fact, feel nothing.)

This marks a shift where, from here on out, every single Comphet Hair Sweep is because of someone else's expectations of Nick rather than his expectations of himself. He can no longer ignore or avoid or refuse to recognise that he's into Charlie.

Note that Nick googles “am i gay?” at the end of this episode.

-----------------

Episode 3: This episode is another one where Nick spends a lot of time seeking out and spending time with Charlie, as well as defying his mates' expectations. As a result, we again have only one Comphet Hair Sweep.

1. Harry and Sai are discussing girls Nick might be able to get with at Harry's birthday party. Nick is feeling compelled to seem straight for the lads, but he also wants to shut down this discussion (his actual crush is right there and might get the wrong impression!).

-----------------

Episode 4: Unfortunately for Nick, in this episode he has to be around other people, with whom he hides himself, more often again.

1. Imogen immediately notices that Nick looks different (i.e., happier and more himself) after he and Charlie get together. Obviously Nick needs to re-place his hair after Imogen ruffles it, but he also wants to hide that the change is related to something decidedly not-hetero.

2. After Harry chucks a rugby ball at Tao, and Nick comes to check on Tao and collect the ball, Tao takes out his frustration and anger by throwing it back at Nick. If Nick wasn't already aware of Tao's feelings about the rugby lads, from this interaction alone it's clear to him that Tao is assuming that he's like Harry because he's part of that group, just another one of the (straight) laddish lads.

3. Before the St John's rugby match, Charlie jogs over to meet his friends who have come to cheer him on. Charlie has just reassured Nick that he won't say anything about their relationship to his friends, but Nick is still nervous and feeling a need to appear straight, especially with his own friends and the rugby lads all around.

4. Darcy nevertheless picks up on something romantic between Nick and Charlie and asks Charlie about it. When Charlie replies, "We're friends" and Darcy pokes at it a bit more, we can see Nick (who's been eavesdropping) in the background doing his Comphet Hair Sweep to compensate.

5. After Charlie is tackled during the rugby match for the first time, Nick calls out to him (which he doesn't do for any other player). We then see Nick come into frame in the background and do a Comphet Hair Sweep before the camera cuts away.

-----------------

Episode 5: Nick makes big strides towards pulling away from others' expectations of him in this episode. This is the beginning of the end of the Comphet Hair Sweep.

1. Harry throws something at Tao and Charlie, Tao retaliates with a shove and an insult, and Nick tells Harry off to stop the confrontation. However, Harry then turns on Nick, saying, "Aw, are you gay for them?", eliciting laughter from the rest of the lads. This homophobia hits close to home for Nick; he loses his nerve, stops sticking up for Tao and Charlie and does his Hair Sweep, uncomfortable but hiding behind appearing straight once again.

2. Nick invites Imogen to the park to tell her that he's not romantically interested in her. After doing so, Nick begins to do a Comphet Hair Sweep but abandons the gesture, changing it to just slightly pushing his hair to the side. This reflects Nick's decision to then be as open and honest with Imogen as he feels ready for at that moment, offering a confession of not “fitting” with their friend group.

2.5. Note that at the end of Nick's talk with Imogen, there's much more hair in Nick's face that he does not attempt to Sweep aside.

3. Unfortunately, Nick hasn't escaped Harry's grasp fully yet. He seems frustrated at letting himself continue to be confined by the group's hetero expectations but still chooses to conform, for now, though possibly deciding after this Hair Sweep that he needs to break free. (Cue animated lovebirds taking flight.)

-----------------

Episode 6: This episode marks the end of the Comphet Hair Sweep as Nick begins to come out to people. Tara has also just publicly come out and is struggling with the fallout from that.

1. Demeera on Reddit posited that the locking music practice room is a metaphor for ‘the closet’. If we take that view, it seems especially telling that Nick does his Hair Sweep right after telling Charlie that he may be bisexual and when looking towards ‘the closet’ where Tara and Darcy are currently trapped.

2. Note that it's Nick who then shoves open the door to ‘the closet’, setting Tara and Darcy free, and perhaps himself as well. We see Nick attempt a Hair Sweep but with the ‘wrong’ hand, doing it a moment later with the other hand. So he does the gesture twice, with both hands...‘bi’ times with ‘bi’ hands, if you will. (And then he sets off on the LGBT corridor run.)

3. This is the final Comphet Hair Sweep, and, notably, it's out of frame. Nick does it when Tao looks at him -- Tao, who is the last of their friend group not to know about the nature of his and Charlie's relationship, and who Nick knows adamantly believes that he's straight.

-----------------

Season 2

After S1E6, Nick does not ever do the Comphet Hair Sweep gesture again. The only remotely similar gesture he does is in season 2 when he sweeps his hair back after his shower in episode 2. He uses one hand to pull his hair back along both sides of his part. This is a Confidently Bisexual Hair Sweep if I've ever seen one.

-----------------

Note that this post is a mixture of genuine and tongue-in-cheek. I don't plan on specifying further; I'll leave that space for you to develop your own views with less influence from mine.

Thanks for taking the time to read through and consider this!

Thank you, too, to @bairdthereader for contributing "sweep" as the term for the motion.

[harpscity]

👏PREACH👏IT👏

the whole “heartstopper isn’t realistic” argument is so stupid to me because everyone who says that has clearly not been able to understand the show/comics correctly. you have charlie literally fainting because he’s not eating enough, you have nick doubting himself because he doesn’t know how to help one of the people he cares the most about, you have elle experiencing identity issues surrounding her current life and friendships, you have tara having self esteem issues because her girlfriend is kind of giving her the silent treatment, you have darcy hiding from her friends the literal hell she’s going through in her house, you have isaac experiencing his sexuality awakening alone because he feels he can’t trust his friends, you have imogen literally going through another sexuality awakening after being heartbroken two times, and finally, you have tori literally at the brink of tears in every scene because of depression. heartstopper IS realistic. you are just too obsessed with drugs and over sexualisation of teenagers. grow up.

[harpscity]

literally me I’m afraid

Louisa Harland as Orla McCool in Derry Girls (2018—2022)

[harpscity]

Everyone’s sad without fairy lights. ✨

- Pip Quintana (Loveless, Alice Oseman)

[harpscity]

MOST LESBIAN TO EVER LESBIAN

LET’S GO LESBIAN(IMOGEN TRUTHERS)S LET’S GO 😤

also can we pls appreciate how she was so flustered by Sahar that she started lowkey tweaking 🎀 like she’s so damn real for that

SAHAR: Imogen got a boyfriend last year and then stopped texting me. IMOGEN: ...Er, no! You stopped texting me!

[harpscity]

James Heaney

May I hearby introduce to you one of my favorite Heartstopper OCs of all time that me and my online friend came up with- James Heaney, Imogen’s dad.

(Full disclaimer: No, he is not whatsoever related to James McEwan. James was just the name that fit him best to me and my friend.)

James Heaney is deaf and an ex-marine, and he owns his own lumber business that Imogen helps him out at most of the time.

Backstory:

For years, he was married to his college sweetheart Isabella Heaney, who he met when he was bartending in Ireland and she came through the bar on a spring break trip with her friend.

(This friend just so happened to be Sarah Nelson.)

Isabella had a few too many that night and ended up doing some very bad karaoke, and even though she looked ridiculous it was the moment James fell in love with her- her hair down and wild, laughing and dancing without a care in the world.

They got a house in Kent together, and Sarah and Stephen got a house only a few doors down from their’s. Isabella and Sarah were both pregnant around the same time, and they wanted it that way, for their kids to be best friends.

Imogen was born September 1st; and Nick a few days later on the 4th.

(Because they were born so close, people often referred to them as twins.)

James got to see his daughter and his wife’s best friend’s son meet, become best friends, and grow up together. Things were good.

However, James was never a big fan of how Stephen treated Nick, David, and Sarah, and James was a father figure to Nick most of the time.

James was the one who taught Nick how to do a lot of things- swim, play rugby, shave, ect.

When Nick and Imogen were 7, Isabella got sick. Really sick.

James did everything he could, spending practically all the money he had on trying to save Isabella with the best doctors and hospitals, but it wasn’t enough, even though he tried.

Isabella passed away when Imogen was 8, and it wrecked not just James and Imogen, but Nick and Sarah, too. Isabella had been like a second mother to Nick, and Isabella had been Sarah’s best friend in the entire world.

James spiraled pretty deep into depression for the first few years after Isabella died, burying himself in his work, not knowing how to talk to Imogen about it.

Eventually, the two of them were able to connect again, and James promised to himself that he’d give Imogen the best childhood possible. He still does his best to keep this promise no matter what, even when he struggles with money. Whatever he has, he puts it all into keeping Imogen happy.

(TLDR: He’s a really, really good dad.)

Age in current TV timeline: 42 (almost 43)

Age when Imogen was born: 27 (Isabella was 26)

Loves:

His kids(he considers Nick to be like a son to him), camping, fishing, woodwork, crafting, cooking, guitar, gardening, stop motion, photography, cinematography, football, nature

Hates:

Small spaces, flashing lights, golf, convince/grocery stores, A.I, commercials, being alone, fancy clothing, hospitals, styrofoam, peer pressure, bars

Appearance:

-Roughly 6’6” in height

-Muscular and pretty strong; on the ‘larger’ side

-Light brown hair and slightly lighter-colored bushy beard with some gray

-Brilliant bright blue eyes (The same as Imogen’s; she got them from him)

-Slightly rough skin with some scars + injuries from his marine days littered across his arms and legs

(I’d draw him if I could draw whatsoever 😭)

Other facts + headcanons:

-He’s extremely supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, and was so, so happy for Imogen when she came out as lesbian, and bought a shirt for himself that said ‘my daughter is a lesbian’. He wears it as much as he can with the widest smile.

-After Isabella passed away, he spiraled into drinking too much for a bit. When he finally got help and started getting better, he couldn’t stand to look at or go in bars anymore, even though he met Isabella at a bar. It just hurt too much.

-Sarah is obsessed with coffee and he knows it, and makes her coffee whenever she comes over, which is often, and used to be even more so when Isabella was still alive because of how close Isabella and Sarah were. He secretly switched the coffee to decaf when Sarah was pregnant but didn’t tell her, and she never noticed the difference because he made sure it tasted the same.

(If you got the Gilmore Girls reference you get a cookie. 🍪)

-Imogen does pageants and can sing very well, but because James is deaf he can’t hear her sing and it breaks his heart that he can’t hear his daughter do what she loves. Sometimes, though, Imogen will sing just for him, and will make sure to sing clearly and carefully so James can read her lips, and he’ll put her hands on her throat so he can feel her vocal cords move as she sings.

-He’s absolutely obsessed with Queen, and so is Nick. The two of them bond over this.

-If James Heaney could chose his own theme song, it’d be ‘Killer Queen’. It just so happened to be the song that was playing the first time he ever saw Isabella.

-He’s a massive sweetheart, even though he seems ‘scary’ to people who haven’t gotten to know him because of his size, demeanor and military tattoos. But really, he’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

Let me know if you want to hear more about James Heaney, because I seriously love him SO much even though he’s just an OC. :)

[harpscity]

Imogen Heaney Headcanons 🎵🍂

I love her SO MUCH oh my god.

I have so many ideas for her (some that probably don't make sense unless you listen to my hour-long explanations on them), but here are some in particular that have been on my mind lately.

1: AUTISTIC. IMOGEN. Imogen is autistic and deals with sensory issues a lot, especially auditory. Since she feels so out of place most of the time, she likes when she can control what's around her- making lists, keeping her room organized (almost concerningly at times- something Charlie notices when he goes over to Imogen's for the first time because Charlie himself is so used to feeling the need to control whatever physical aspects of his life/himself he can), having soft, warm lights and her favorite stuffed animals everywhere, as well as posters, fidgets and comfort objects, ect. However, as she gets older people in her and Nick's 'popular' friend group begin to make fun of her for her autism more and more- causing her to change her room quite a bit. When Ben came over for the first time after they got together, the first thing he did was point out how 'babyish' her rainbow lava lamp was- she got rid of it two days later, even though it was one of the few things left in her room at that point that made her feel like herself.

She also does her best to fit in with the popular girls, masking her autism pretty heavily and well- most of the time. There are some slips and cracks that leave her confused when she can't understand the looks people give her, why she can't seem to stop saying the 'wrong' thing no matter how hard she tries. (See: The canteen scene in S1 EP4. She doesn't get why Tara and Darcy are upset- she'd just said the 'right' thing, hadn't she? And in her mind, she liked Nick, he liked her... at least, that's what seemed right. It's what everyone told her, and she was so scared at the thought of what would happen if she disagreed that she forced herself to believe it.) Most of the time when she gets home from a night out with the popular girls, she's overstimulated and miserable- she lets herself have a good cry for a few minutes in her closet, hugging the stuffed bear Sahar gave her when she was little (Imogen refused to get rid of it but hid it deep in her closet). But as soon as she's done crying, she hides the stuffed animal again and leaves the closet, cleaning off any tears left behind.

As kind and understanding Nick always has been and always will be about her autism, Imogen hides more and more about it from him as they get older. She doesn't mean to; she just doesn't want to burden the one person who never hated her.

(I could do so many entire posts about my autistic Imogen headcanons, tbh.)

2: She's not as big of a fan of physical touch as people assume she is. Because she's a very loving and energetic person, people (especially some of the not-so-nice lads) assume she's okay with physical touch all the time- arms around/by her waist or stomach. It makes her really uncomfortable sometimes, especially when she's overstimulated. However, because she doesn't want to upset anyone or come off as too 'weird', it's pretty rare she says anything about it. Nick, however, will notice quickly and do his best to get her out of those situations.

3: She calls Nick 'Nicholas' because it's one of the first words she was able to properly say. Imogen's dad (James Heaney*) is deaf, so until she started school, she mostly grew up using sign language and not her actual voice. Her parents never discouraged her from verbal communication, but she resorted to sign language more due to hating how loud everyone seemed to be all the time when she was little- she didn't want to add to that noise if she could help it. She and Nick have been best friends since they were babies because their mums were best friends, so Nick therefore knows some sign, too, which he learned from Imogen's dad. One of the first words Imogen learned how to properly say was 'Nicholas' so she could talk to him before he knew any sign. Even after that, it stuck.

(*Unrelated to James McEwan.)

Nick never treated Imogen any different for not talking much, so Imogen didn't really realize it was different until she started school and people started making fun of her voice. Because she never used it much, it sounded 'weird' to a lot of people. Nick was and always has been extremely protective of Imogen and would get really angry whenever someone made fun of her, especially for her voice. (This is part of the reason everyone started to assume they liked each other- because of course, a little girl and boy can't just have a normal best friend relationship when they grow up, too, right?)

However, even though Nick always told Imogen there was nothing wrong with her voice, she grew extremely insecure about it and began forcing it to be different- practicing obsessively to make sure her vowels didn't drag too much, that her voice wasn't too deep or slow. Because of this, she developed the 'popular girl voice' we hear her use in the show quite often. (See: S1 EP2 - Picnic Tables, S1 EP4- Canteen, S1 EP4- Feild, S2 EP4- Talking to Ben about Paris.) It turns into a defense/coping mechanism- when she's anxious she quickly puts up that wall, 'one less thing she can be made fun of for'.

However, there are times when in raw, unfiltered emotion her real voice comes through. Sometimes by accident (See: S2 EP4, Restaurant Breakup) or when she's truly relaxed towards those around her and feels safe enough to use her real voice. (See: S1 EP5, Park Bench + S2 EP7, Art Exhibition)

As Imogen becomes closer with the Paris Squad and with Sahar again, her natural voice begins to come through more and more :)

No matter what, though, Imogen forever feels guilty for feeling bad about her voice- she has no problem with her dad's voice, why on earth should she have a problem with her own? Or even care what people think?

4: Somewhat building off #1 and #3, Imogen goes nonverbal sometimes, or choses it as a coping mechanism. Most of the time it happens when she's extremely overstimulated or depressed, which unfortunately happens more than it should. She wants to talk to her dad about new medication but is too afraid of burdening him any further. Plus, medicine is expensive. So, she bottles it up as much as she can. But some days it all hits her at once and talking is just too much, too scary. Nick and Sahar were essentially the only people outside her family (until the Paris Squad) that Imogen felt safe being open with about these things, and they are both extremely patient with her about it.

(One day in Paris Sahar saw Imogen get overstimulated so they went to sit alone for a bit together. It didn't really matter to either of them that that trip was the first time they'd seen each other in almost a year, they just sat there quietly until Imogen felt better, and Sahar held her hand. Something in Imogen's heart melted completely at that.)

5: She and Nick have a sibling relationship and look after each other extremely carefully. They always care for one another, and fight sometimes, but not often. (This is part of why the fight over the Ben thing was so hard for both of them.)

Because Nick and Imogen are so close, Imogen is one of the first and few people to notice + know about Nick's anxiety. Over time she learns how to help him through panic attacks and flare ups just as he learns to help her destress when she's overstimulated. Imogen is very quick to notice when Nick's anxiety is getting bad, especially when he has a panic attack coming on. (See: S2 EP3 Nick's bonfire panic attack/anxiety flare-up)

Imogen and Nick used to do sleepovers all the time as little kids, but as they got older it was considered too 'weird'. However, when Charlie was in the mental hospital, Nick had some pretty bad panic attacks at night, so Imogen slept over in David's old room to keep an eye on him whenever Sarah had night shifts. Imogen was hesitant to do so at first, not wanting to give Charlie the wrong idea, but Charlie promised it was okay- he encouraged it, grateful to Imogen for keeping an eye on Nick.

After this, sleepovers with Nick, Charlie and Imogen all together became pretty normal when Charlie got home. (I love them as a trio so much. You can pry their bond from my cold dead hands.)

Nick and Imogen worry about one another a lot, especially about their mental health. Imogen often deflects to avoid Nick worrying about her by making sure he's alright first. Nick, meanwhile, will do his best to say he's fine, not wanting to 'drag' anyone else into his anxiety, but will then feel extremely guilty for lying to her.

They're both people who try and keep it all bottled up so it can't poison anyone else, and this is why they can understand each other so well.

6: Lesbian Imogen. You don't have to agree whatsoever. I honestly love all the different interpretations of where she could fall under the sapphic umbrella, and people are so creative with their ideas for it. However, Imogen being lesbian makes the most sense to me. Her 'crushes' on guys were the most comphet things I've ever seen, especially with Nick. To me, she is lesbian. But she doesn't have to be to you. :)

(There are so many great posts about this in particular that go into depth about Imogen having comphet, I totally recommend looking them up.)

7: She has body issues. Imogen wears long sleeves often, not feeling comfortable with her arms or thighs exposed. She's done pageants since she was little, and while they're so much fun and she does amazing, the diet culture and people there really affected her.

This worried Sahar a lot when they were around 14 and Imogen started to eat less and less, causing an argument between them over whether pageants were good for Imogen to keep doing or not; whether they were good for anyone to do.

They made up, but Sahar never stopped truly noticing how those pageants were draining Imogen. It was one of the underlying things that led to their eventual friendship breakup in year 10 when Imogen got her first boyfriend and didn't know who she was anymore, just knew that she wanted to feel pretty and normal for once.

Imogen always knew deep down somewhere Sahar was right but forced herself to keep doing pageants anyway. Imogen originally began doing pageants as a little kid for her mum (Isabella Heaney) and didn't want to let her down.

(Another idea that deserves its own post, honestly.)

When her eating spiraled out of control, all she could think about was how much she hated her body. It was weird, it was all wrong and too big or too little in all the wrong places. There was so much pain, and she didn't know what to do with it. In the end, it left her with scars on her inner thighs and the underside of her left arm. Because of this, she's one of the first people to notice when Charlie begins struggling with the same thing.

These are just some of my MANY headcanons for her, lmk if you’d want to hear any more :)

[harpscity]

“Are you free October thir-” NO 🗣️🗣️🗣️🍂🍂🍂

BROBROBRO

As somewhat scared as I am for season 3 I’m also SO EXCITED :D

Can’t wait to see what Alice has in store for us <3

(Also I’m PRAYING for Imohar endgame 🤞🎵)

[harpscity]

Lil too real

[harpscity]

[harpscity]

Luke supremacy

I’ve seen people who watch Gilmore Girls (family members, friends, fans online, ect.) sometimes call Luke a selfish or ‘withdrawn’ person, but he’s the complete opposite. He makes constant sacrifices for those he loves, and even those he can’t stand. Rather than looking down upon people, he looks right at them, and really sees them for what and who they are. Some fans only see him as the ‘grumpy, stereotypical diner guy who hates everything’, especially at the start of the series. But he loves WAY more than he could ever hate.