#for example: just because nick likes the way boston has sex doesn't mean that top does

[forcebookish]

First of all, thank you for being one of the few people with a brain on my dash in regards to Top in Only Friends. I swear, everytime I see you post something I'm like YES SOMEONE WHO CAN THINK CLEARLY.

Secondly, I wanted to point out something I haven't seen people talk about with the car sex scene. Whilst we can debate all day about the consent issues and Boston's manipulation, it is VERY clear that Top doesn't actually want to be there. There's a bit where (and excuse the rather pornographic language XD) that Top makes a face and seems to be (*ahem*) hammering up, and the second I saw that I was like, he doesn't want to be here, he's just letting frustration out, he isn't even thinking of Boston, in his mind it's not Boston he's with. Like, even then they were first stripping each other and whatnot, Top looks so full of doubt and anger.

I'm not defending what he did, but I do wish more people would realise that manipulation and gaslighting like Boston is doing can REALLY make people fuck up. I mean, if someone can listen to that kind of ear poison and NOT react, then well done to them, but we aren't all that strong, you know?

i'm just calling it like i see it! but thank you <3

you make a good point about top letting out his frustration. besides actual pleasure and connection (like with mew), top has two modes when it comes to sex: shutting down and frantic. this was both. while i don't think that top would have rushed out to find someone to fuck if he "found out" and boston wasn't coming on to him, it definitely wasn't about boston

and it definitely wasn't because he's a good lay lmao

don't u think top would have re-sampled ur wares earlier if that were the case, u fucking dickhole

anyway. it honestly seems like top never wants to be around boston. the throughline of topboston's relationship is that top is irritated, angry, or uncomfortable around him - the only thing that changes in that scene is that top is also heartbroken. i think his anger here is at least a little bit about boston, but definitely mostly about mew.

personally, i'm Team Top Didn't Do Anything Wrong. i will defend what he did, because i don't think he thought he had any other options and had been convinced by boston that it didn't matter (that nothing mattered, that he didn't matter). sexual assault, coercion, and rape will never be "cheating." believing someone's lies will never be worse than lying to get someone to fuck you.

there's a lot of stuff that top "should" have done instead, but that's always the rape culture argument with shit like this - and unfortunately, that kind of thinking is going to plague top for the rest of the series. his lying to mew is going to be an issue, but i can't pretend like shame isn't going to be a big factor in how top navigates these irrevocably altered relationships. also kind of think he's going to try to dump mew in the next episode but we'll see🤔

great to hear your thoughts!💗 (also it's very cute that you say "excuse the rather pornographic language." you should read my fics sometime😂)

[psychdiarys]

My problem with the execution of BostonNick's storyline

As happy as BostonNick's scenes make me & as well as NeoMark are performing, I can't help but feel that their story is like a puzzle with missing pieces. And it's always us viewers who have to fill in the gaps because they can't give them enough airtime to flesh out their storyline better.

Their scenes often feel cut short to me especially in the last couple of episodes? I've started to feel some noticeable gaps in the plot between one Boston and Nick scene and the next.

For example, when Nick goes to talk to Boston at the Halloween party in episode 8? We find out that Boston knew it was Nick who tipped Mew off about Gap. That entire segment felt off to me cause why would Nick even do Boston dirty like that after claiming he doesn't want to hurt him? And then why would he go & talk to him all casually after betraying him twice? Plus it would seem as if Boston totally hates Nick's guts now if not for the scene where he's sadly looking at Nick & his photos together. That one SINGULAR moment of him looking at their photos while day-drinking was literally all we had to indicate that Boston liked Nick too.

In episode 10, we jump straight from the repair shop scene to the rooftop scene, which felt so? Abrupt? Like as MUCH as I loved that scene, I felt like it came out of nowhere? One second Nick is flirting with Dan & giving him permission to hit on him, then Boston walks in with The Lockscreen™ & we straight up jump to Nick going over to see Boston at the rooftop. Like WE had to assume that Nick realised he can't stop loving Boston even though he has the option to be with Dan & that's why he decides to go back to him. But if you don't put that together, you'd be confused why Nick went to Ton after the whole speech he gave in the previous ep & after trying to move on with Dan? I just wish they'd SHOWED us a scene of Nick feeling torn between Dan & Ton? I wish there was a scene of him looking at the lockscreen in contemplation when Dan calls him to come see him or something, but Nick decides to ditch him to go see Ton? IDK something to fill in the gaps?

And the way Boston himself approached Nick at the shop hinting that he wants him back with the lockscreen, but the next second at the rooftop, he's asking Nick why he came there? Like? Bro you WANTED him to come? What happened in between for him to suddenly change his demeanor?

And now in the scene with Atom in episode 11, Boston mentioned something about Atom starting an anonymous account to expose Boston — WHICH CAME OUT OF NOWHERE? Like what do you mean Atom started an expose page? Why is nobody talking about this? How come Cheum didn't even get mad at her brother for framing Ton & falsely exposing him on the internet? If there's a rumor like that floating about Ton on the internet, isn't that going to cause problems for him with his dad?

Speaking of dad, what exactly is the issue between Boston & his dad? Like WE assumed Boston's dad might be homophobic but they never actually address this in canon. Why was Boston so scared of his dad finding out about his private life (other than the fact that NOBODY would want their parent to see a sex tape of them). But Boston's dad seemed to know he sleeps around & doesn't get serious with anyone? So what exactly is the issue? Why can't we get more background on Boston? We know his parents are divorced & his dad is a politician but we have no idea how he feels about any of this (except for our own assumptions).

AND NICK for that matter? Like we have no idea why he is so messed up. We know all about Ray's alcoholism & what prompted it. We know all about Sand's financial issues, familial issues, & ex-bf issues. We know about Top's trauma & how it affects him, and we know Mew was betrayed & cheated on which is why he started acting insane. But Nick? He's been insane since DAY 1 & we have noooo clue why? All we know about his past is that he used to have curly hair.

And this is not a jab at any of the other characters cause I'm invested in ALL the storylines. But this show is supposed to have 6 main characters, so why have BostonNick started to feel like a side couple? And with a storyline as complex as theirs, why are their scenes so limited & short? I just wish we didn't have to depend so much on our interpretations to understand BostonNick.

[theworldinclines]

thoughts🤩incoherent but we ball

1. friendship.

it's important to note that at the beginning of the series, it's pretty clear that boston is at the top of his game, at least from the outside. he is one of the hottest men on campus, he can pull anyone he wants, and he has a group of friends that he spends his time with if he isn't hooking up. top rejecting him/going after mew was the beginning of the end of this version of boston, as we saw his downright icarian downfall in real time. the first element of friendship here is the connections he had w the original gang of himself, mew, chueam, and ray. their friendship, at least his to the trio, has always been shallow. they met in class and latched to each other bc that's what you do in uni, but aside from enjoying a night out and being queer, what did they actually have to tie them together? they have different families, morals, and opinions on pretty much everything. boston sleeps with top not bc he has any malicious intent toward mew, he does it bc he wants to, he can, and in his experience that means he will! it's why he is so baffled when the group is furious at him; why??? all he did was sleep w some guy who he knew first - and he didn't do it for the exclusive reason of being a dick, just purely for his own ego (which he can't see past).

but THAT! is the type of friendship boston has known for years. blackmailing, manipulating, together bc we kind of just fell into it. nick is the first person to crave boston's presence BECAUSE he sees exactly who he is. he sticks by boston when no one else does, he has seen nick's true commitment to him and that realisation of nick's care for boston endears him to boston when he has lost all else and is at his lowest. he reads the true friendship nick offers for something past platonic, which most of us have seen in our own lives im sure: being boyfriends is the natural answer to the connection he feels. he loves being w nick, the sex is fantastic, and nick is committed to him. but boston has never had a real friend. it's literally that arrested development scene where tony and gob say they have feelings for each other and then the narrator goes "the feeling was friendship, but neither man had experienced it before" LMAOOO u know?

2. another thing is that boston believes that this is what what nick has wanted all along and still wants. he's been begging from almost the beginning out loud and silently for boston to love him and want him only and boston has no reason not to believe nick would be THRILLED about the bf question. but he doesn't realise that while he has changed, so has nick. i think he sees more of the pain he caused nick when they were in the bathroom giving advice to atom, when nick says he has experienced the pain of one sided love and it sucks, and that probably seems like a recent example that nick does still feel the same way. they've both been thru a lot both together and separately, and really need to have a conversation like nick and dan had when nick said he's not in a place to be someone's boyfriend, so that nick can admit that he isn't sure he wants what he did before.

3. boston has gone from 0 to 100 as usual. he goes from constant casual hookups to deciding he wants to be exclusive with nick. he did mention wanting to possibly stop sleeping around as much in the pool a while back, but it's so hard to tell how much of that was nick and how much of it was jealousy that top wanted to be exclusive with mew. does boston actually want to have sex w one person only for however long, or does he want the certainty of a relationship w nick where they're still open to sex outside each other? (this post brought up the poly nickdanboston ending and i thought it was so great. for my piece it seems idk just odd writing that he would say to dan that he likes him, only to crush him in the finale by ending up exclusively with boston. i think dan and boston would both be incredible partners for nick in different ways and it would be so cool if they went down that road. however unlikely lol)