Does anyone else feel like almost all of the conflicts that had to do with the various character dynamics in Chain of Thorns didn’t actually get resolved, they just unexplainably ceased to exist after two books of building them up because CC didn’t feel like writing them anymore and she didn’t know how to resolve it naturally after how she’d built the issues up so much?
Like how none of the characters but Cordelia and Thomas had any clue about the Alastair and Charles situation and then suddenly in CoT it was like who doesn’t know? Of course Matthew knew and didn’t say anything before and then randomly brought it up to Cordelia in Paris while assuming she knew too
Or how Alastair and Thomas went from how things were at the end of CoI with Alastair thinking it could never work because Thomas’s friends hate him to oh look everyone suddenly is friends with Alastair with no grudge with no development of that in this book at all, just an abrupt shift
Especially the Alastair and Matthew dynamic where Matthew hated Alastair and wanted him to have nothing to do with any of their friends and he spent CoI ranting about him to Cordelia. And then suddenly in CoT it’s like of course Matthew is supportive of Thomas and Alastair and oh look Matthew and Alastair are suddenly not just tolerating each other for Thomas’s sake but friends despite barely interacting and no development actually showing and never getting any mention of the other in their own POVs, just having Cordelia be like Alastair stop being dumb, you’re literally friends with him now
Or like everyone other than Christopher and Grace where it was like oh we don’t like her for how she’s treated us and her friends straight to anyway she’s one of us. Like yes Grace was useful and yes Tatiana manipulated her whole life, but none of that was why anyone changed their minds or opinions? It was just suddenly the flip of a switch when it was convenient for CC
Or Anna and Ariadne where it didn’t so much develop as Anna just acted mean to Ariadne on and off throughout the series and at the end of CoI she wanted nothing to do with a relationship and then in CoT she was just suddenly like sure I guess I do. Also, slightly different note, but I did not like that Anna barely interacted with anyone else for the entire book and she was just off in the corner being an irrelevant romantic subplot for almost all of the book except when she showed up to barely even be shown in the background being sad about her brother being dead
(Although Anna still got more of a reaction than everyone else and his death was poorly executed all around in the sense of how did you write this so predictably and poorly that no one even knows when he died and it’s so background and 99% of the characters don’t care at all and we don’t see his parents finding out or much of Thomas’s reaction or anything and it’s just as if he wasn’t a character anymore 2 seconds later which is a different genre of issue with CoT but similar problem in the sense that both issues made the book feel a lot more emotionless to read)
And how the issues of Thomas and Alastair being together as two men and Anna and Ariadne being together as two women in this time and the issues of what would happen if the fact that Charles and Alastair were gay got out to the entire Clave just disappeared and never got addressed at all. We know how the ClVe reacted to Alec Lightwood YEARS later. We know society was homophobic at the time TLH is set and that it seems like shadowhunter society was a lot less open-minded than mundanes a century later
I understand that Charles being blackmailed and making shitty decisions was annoying but it was like suddenly everyone finding out wouldn’t have consequences and all the other queer men characters were like how could you possibly be worried about this :/ as if they haven’t spent the whole series knowing they have to be careful about who they tell. And then suddenly it was just of course it’s totally fine and safe to have everyone find out and why wouldn’t you be fine with that. And it was really written in a way that had other queer characters like oh Charles is such a coward for not being ready to publicly tell a bunch of homophobic people his sexuality and it just wasn’t it??? And super weird after Thomas was terrified of telling even Anna and Matthew for years. And also, I did not care for the fact that when Charles did go risk getting outed to finally do the right thing, we didn’t even get to see it through any character’s perspective or how that important meeting went, we just got one line of dialogue from somebody else saying that it happened with no details at all. And I can’t think of other examples right now but there were quite a few moments like that where we got one line saying that something had happened that was important to the plot and to characters’ development that seemed like it would have been more interesting than some of what we did get to see where it was just totally breezed over and way too easy and totally background to less important stuff
And then there was the whole no one reacting to Ariadne and Anna dancing together publicly thing was like yeah that’s nice I guess but not realistic and it doesn’t go with the way things have been presented up to that point, it also just feels like a situation where CC was like well this would be easier for me so there just won’t be consequences and then they can easily end up happily together
And then there was the whole Thomas and Alastair thinking they couldn’t realistically be together thing and knowing they couldn’t get married or be known to be together by anyone they’re not close to and then at the end it’s still not really addressed how they’re going to be together? Like there was the laziest write off of the family tree being wrong and then we still are just left to assume that eventually they move in together and suddenly it’s not a problem and everyone’s fine with it? And then I also feel like we don’t actually know if everyone found out about Alastair and Charles’ sexualities after the blackmail or if people are going to assume about Thomas and Alastair or if that’ll cause issues or if no one knows outside of who they’ve told and they have to be careful or what. Which like wouldn’t necessarily need to be addressed if it wasn’t for the logistics of being together as two men in that time being part of the obstacle that they were struggling with being in their way and then it felt like it was totally forgotten to even be one at the end by CC
Idk like I’d love to think they just lived in a world where homophobia didn’t exist but it felt like homophobia was a plot point when CC wanted it to be an inconvenience and then suddenly disappeared just to make her writing easier the moment she didn’t want it there anymore instead of actually addressing the plots she raised with it if that makes sense?
And sorry, I really did not mean to go on a rant this long. And maybe everyone else had a very different reading experience than I did and other people don’t agree with some or all of this. I personally am just very confused about how the book was almost 800 pages long and it felt like so much of the development in it was us abruptly being told that development had happened rather than actually getting to see it and how so many of the issues were abruptly solved in an I don’t want to write this issue anymore kind of way rather than anything actually needing to be worked at outside of the Belial situation
Edit: You know what, I mentioned it in my tags but I feel like it’s annoying enough to put in the body of the post and make it even longer. What the fuck was with everyone outing or potentially outing everyone else just so that characters could openly talk about the queer characters and tell them to do what they want them to? Why did Matthew out his brother multiple times? Like yes, the people he said it to coincidentally already knew, but he didn’t know that. And why was Thomas outing Alastair? The straights got to keep their secrets as long as they wanted and fix their problems more naturally. Why did I have to sit through queer characters constantly having their sexualities and romantic histories to everyone else when they clearly had not okayed it? Why were the queer characters doing so much of the outing? Why were people who cared about them and knew what it felt like to be afraid of the wrong person finding out just broadcasting their sexualities to make it easier for CC to breeze past development to have their things get resolved fast? Why did no character have an issue with it at all?
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secret - Chris Sturniolo
summary: chris wants to keep your relationship a secret from the fans, which means he is never around as much as he should be. this sparks an argument, where chris suggests that you 'should just leave.'
contains: angst, cocky!chris, crying, fluff, yelling, comforting.
----------------------≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫----------------———
i lay in chris and i's bed, wrapped up comfortably in the thick sheets.
my head snaps up to look at chris as he swings open the door, he walks inside the room wearing a white tanktop and some black sweatpants.
"just gonna go film." he says vaguely before walking out of the room,
"chris- can i come!?" i call out,
"y/n, no. we talked about this" chris sighs, i get up out of bed and walk towards him,
"please- i don't have to be in it, i just haven't seen you for like a week." i say softly, chris shakes his head, practically discarding me.
"i see you every week, ill be gone for about two hours okay?" chris says blankly,
i feel my face grow hot with embarrassment, i feel like im practically begging for chris to want me, even though im his girlfriend. anger courses through my body, pushing me to my breaking point.
"why- why do you not care about me- or anything i have to say!" i raise my voice, pointing my fingers at chris's chest as i glare my eyes.
"you don't scare me y/n." chris chuckles, bringing my finger down from his chest.
"proves my fucking point! right there--!" i yell, chris just stares at me with a smug smile on his face.
"we agreed to keep us a secret-" chris starts, but i cut him off
"we both agreed to keep us a secret from your fans, not everyone else you've ever known! yes- i get it your fans will be mad but you're- your'e-" my voice breaks as i turn away from him
"don't be acting all pissy because i have a job and you don't." he raises his voice at me,
"excuse you?" i almost laugh,
"yeah, get a grip y/n, honestly." chris sighs, grabbing his phone and going to walk out.
"don't fucking leave-" i shout, "you're a horrible person chris-" i say, holding back floods of tears.
"maybe you're just being a sensitive little bitch?" chris says, the regret is prominent on his face as soon as those words leave his mouth.
"you're being- so mean-" my voice breaks, tears rolling down my flushed face.
"then leave- i'm actually done with you're bullshit, please leave." chris raises his voice.
i look up at him, "actually-?" i say through loud sobs,
he hesitates for a second before speaking, "i- i dont know- if you can handle me being popular then leave-"
"your ego is incredible you asshole-" i squeeze out, walking past him.
he grabs my chin and stops me in my tracks, his large hand clasped tight around my small chin. "excuse me?" he looks down at me,
"i'm going to find nick." i sigh loudly,
"no you're not." chris states,
"i thought we were done?" i say with a loud cry, i wipe my tears away quickly.
suddenly matt peeks his head through the door, "everything okay in here?" matt asks with concern clear on his face
“fuck off matt, genuinely.” chris raises his voice,
“dude, you’re making her cry-“ matt points out, his eyes locking with mine.
“and it’s none of your business, fuck off!” chris yells shakily at matt,
matt walks into the room angrily, pushing chris’s shoulder. chris let’s go of my chin, discarding me.
“you want my girl now?” chris almost laughs as he approaches matt,
“she’s literally like my little sister and i’ve known her my whole life- so god forbid i ask if she’s okay after i hear you scream at her through the walls!” matt grows angry,
“y/n can’t understand that the fans can’t know about me and her, that’s literally it- she’s just being ignorant, like always.” chris speaks as though i’m not here,
“sort your shit out chris.” matt mutters, pushing chris backwards before walking out of the room.
“i- i think i’m gonna go to matt’s room.” i whisper, barely audible.
“yeah- go fuck him while you’re at it.” chris says with a petty tone,
i let out a frustrated sigh before pushing his shoulder back with an angry sob.
“pathetic.” chris scoffs, “do it harder-“ he taunts,
i storm out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me with a loud bang.
i swing open the door to matt’s room, he’s sat at the edge of his bed on his phone.
“matt-“ i sniffle, matt looks up at me before standing up,
“hey- hey you okay?” matt asks frantically, his voice soft.
“i think chris just broke up with me-“ my voice breaks, matt wraps his arms around me, pulling me into a hug.
“i’m sure he didn’t, he’s just upset right now, you think?” matt whispers into my hair,
i nod, “you can stay in my room tonight, i’ll get the spare mattress.” he suggests, i nod as tears continue to pour down my face.
“i hate him- ihatehimihatehimihatehim.” i sob, matt rubs my back,
“no you don’t, arguments are normal, it happens.” matt sighs.
“i do- hes so mean to me!” i bury my face into my hands.
“shh- sh it’s okay.” matt says, “are you in your pyjamas?” matt asks,
i nod, “okay- then let’s get out the mattress and you can get to sleep.” matt states.
he lets me go before tugging out the matress from under his bed, he throws a couple of blankets and pillows on it before handing me his pug stuffed animal,
“you want this for tonight?” matt asks with a small laugh, i grab the small pug stuffed animal before flopping down on the mattress on the floor.
matt’s always been like a big brother for me, he’s always cared about me so much.
matt bends down and covers me in the blankets, tucking me in. “try have a good sleep okay?” matt whispers, i nod with a small ‘thank you’.
————-
4:23am
i stir awake slowly, i sit up off the matress and look over at matt who’s fast asleep on the bed beside me.
i stand up before stumbling over to the door swiftly, the need to go to the bathroom is overwhelming.
i slowly creak open matt’s door and step out into the corridor.
my footsteps slap against the cold wood as i yawn loudly
i swing open the door to the bathroom, and i’m met with him.
chris.
he’s sitting on the edge of the bathtub, scrolling on his phone. i turn on the warm light which illuminates the small bathroom.
“oh-“ i whisper, spinning back around and reaching for the door handle.
“no- no please come back-“ chris’s voice wobbles.
he’s wearing spider-man pyjama shorts, the same ones that i teased him for a couple weeks ago.
he’s got a thin white shirt on and his brunette hair is messed up completely, his eyes are bloodshot and swollen along with his puffy lips and pink cheeks.
he stands up, looking down at me. i can see the gears in his brain physically spinning as he tries to think of what to say.
“i-i’m sorry i’m still here- i was gonna pack up in the morning.” i break the silence with a couple deep breaths.
chris’s face drops, he buries his face into his hands with a shake of his head.
“i- i didn’t mean that- i was just so caught up in the heat of the moment and i really- really- don’t want to loose you.” chris starts, his eyes watering
“and i’m so sorry for taking you for granted. i love you more than anything, i love you more than anything ever.” chris’s voice breaks loudly, he goes silent as his body jolts up and down.
“are you crying?” i ask softly, he nods.
i don’t say anything, just wrapping my arms around him, he hugs me back weakly.
he buries his head into my shoulder, his soft hair covers half my face.
“and- i’m sorry for crying i just- don’t want you to think i’m only crying for sympathy i just feel really upset.” chris clarifies, i laugh softly,
“i know sweetheart,” i sigh,
“and— and- you don’t have to forgive me- ever— i said proper mean stuff to you.” chris’s voice trembles,
“i forgive you, i just want my old chris back, yeah?” i rub his back,
“you will get that- forever-“ chris sniffs.
we stand in the cold of the bathroom, his arms holding me tightly now, as though he’s afraid to let me go.
i stroke his hair lightly with my manicured nails,
“chris- i don’t mean to ruin this moment but i really really need to pee- that’s why i came in here—“
-
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