#with ONE homophobic girl. who is a social outcast...

[lonesomedotmp3]

"you managed to convince all of those idiots at our hippie commune of a high school that you and karma are vag-etarians" DIALOGUE!!

[youremyheaven]

Outcaste Nakshatras: The Misfits & the Misunderstood

Yesterday I made a post about how outcaste nakshatra natives tend to be anti-establishment thinkers and how many of the most well known radicals & revolutionaries of our world tend to have Outcaste nakshatras.

Outcaste or Mleccha nakshatras belong outside the caste system and aren't given a place in the caste hierarchy. Shudra nakshatras are the lowest caste to occupy the hierarchy. Mleccha is considered lower than that and thus outside the system.

(Ashlesha, Bharani, Shravana and Vishaka are the Mleccha nakshatras)

Thus it comes as no surprise that those who have Outcaste naks often experience being socially outcast, excluded and like they don't belong anywhere.

Shudra nakshatras also experience these themes to a certain degree as these two are at the lowest end of the pyramid.

Shannen Doherty (middle) was fired from 2 shows, Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed because of issues among the cast members & rivalry between them. When she was starring in 90210, her fellow cast member Tori Spelling whose father Aaron Spelling produced the show, asked her dad to fire Shannen. Aaron Spelling also produced Charmed and subsequently fired her after 3 seasons due to her conflict with cast member Alyssa Milano, who later admitted that she was responsible for a lot of the tension at work. Rose McGowan who replaced Shannen on Charmed also accused Milano of creating a toxic work environment.

Shannen acquired a "bad girl" reputation and was known for being "difficult to work with"🙄I feel like she was pushed into a corner by her male producers and bitchy co-stars and felt excluded among them as a girl from a small town in Tennessee :(

She has Revati Sun, Vishaka Moon, Uttaraphalguni Rising and Ketu in Ashlesha

Revati is a Shudra nak whereas Vishaka & Ashlesha are Mleccha naks

Isaiah Washington was fired from Grey's Anatomy for using a homophobic slur against gay co-star T.R Knight. Washington has come out saying that this is false and that he said the f word during a dispute with Patrick Dempsey who had a tendency to provoke him (he apparently said: "Isaiah, do you know that white men are the masters of the universe?")

He also said that he was always excluded on set and they tried to pay him to NOT audition for the role. Washington also claimed that star Ellen Pompeo was given millions of dollars to stay silent about Dempsey's on-set behaviour in the #MeToo era, and alleged that she was racist, saying, “She really thinks that she’s cool with Black people like that, but she’s not.” There have been many rumours over the years about Greys being a toxic work place so tbh I am inclined to believe him.

He has Ashlesha Sun, Uttarashada Moon and Jupiter in Revati amatyakaraka

Not everyone tries to expose their former bosses or colleagues but given his Moon in a Kshatriya nakshatra (or warrior nak) I see how he's brave enough to risk everything to speak his truth.

Brendan Fraser has had a lot of setbacks in his career and for a good period he just sort of disappeared from Hollywood; in recent years he has come out saying that it's because he was blacklisted by the then President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who had sexually assaulted him. He did make a career comeback and won an Oscar but man's been through a lot in life.

He has Jyeshta Sun, Krittika Moon & Bharani Rising

Although he has a Mleccha nak in his big 3, since he also has a Brahmin & Vaishya nak, he has enjoyed immense public support and sympathy which not very many other people on this list have. Not everybody gets to make Oscar winning comebacks either.

Tatjana Patitz was one of the 90s supers (she's the one in the back in this picture) but unlike Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington or Cindy Crawford, she's hardly ever mentioned in conversations about the 90s OG supermodels. She received very little press coverage and unlike the others who've made career comebacks or enjoyed sustained fame, Tatjana kind of vanished. She unfortunately passed away in 2023 from breast cancer and even then I haven't seen the industry mourning for her or anything :(

Tatjana had Bharani Moon

George Clooney has spoken about how in high school, he was nicknamed Frankenstein because of Bell's palsy which caused the whole left side of his face to be paralysed, his eye rarely opened and he had problems with eating. Because of the constant bullying, he had to move to another school. After a change of scenery and active sports, the disease receded. 

George has Bharani Sun, Uttarashada Moon, Shatabhisha Ketu & Rising and Mercury in Krittika atmakaraka

Even though majority of his naks are Mleccha/Shudra, he subsequently became an A list actor and enjoys immense wealth, popularity and good will. His moon is in a Kshatriya nak and his atmakaraka is in a Brahmin caste nak. He fought his way up.

Amal Clooney was born in Lebanon into a well-off family but they had to flee Lebanon due to the civil war and settle in England. Amal is a human rights lawyer whose clients include refugees. (I had previously spoken about the outcaste nakshatra tendency to be anti-establishment or to dedicate their life to causes which had initially affected them personally).

Amal has Shravana Sun, Jyeshta Moon and Venus in Dhanishta atmakaraka. Due to the presence of Vaishya naks, she gets to support these causes from a position of immense privilege and champions them through her position as a lawyer, i.e, using her intellect not armed struggle or some other form of activism.

Megan Fox's career was full of ups and downs and for a period she was pretty much blacklisted from Hollywood and labelled "difficult to work with"🙄

She has Krittika Sun, Ashlesha Moon and Purvashada Rising

Even though her moon is in a Mleccha nak, due to her other luminaries being in Brahmin naks she's enjoyed immense popularity among the public for years and has always enjoyed a certain status or level of fame (largely due to her looks but honestly Hollywood is full of gorgeous women, how many enjoy the same popularity or public interest as Meghan?).

Billie Eilish, Shravana Moon grew up lower middle class and was home-schooled. Even though now she's rich & famous, she still acts like an outcast and "does not fit in".

Angelina Jolie, Revati Moon & stellium has spoken a lot about being unpopular in school, being a punk, being misunderstood. She has Mercury in Mrigashira atmakaraka and Saturn in Punarvasu as her chart ruler

Revati is a Shudra nak, Punarvasu also experiences themes of being an outcast, Mrigashira nak has themes of abuse.

It makes sense as to why she has dedicated most of her life to helping refugees and championing numerous causes and has even said if she were young now she would never have become an actor. She enjoys immense popularity and is very privileged (lots of Vaishya gana naks in her chart) but to this day she's condemned for her weird behaviour in the 90s and early 2000s and can never seem to shed her past image completely which is crazy because she's not the first or last person to have an affair with a married man (not condoning adultery just saying that it happens all the time in Hollywood and people hardly bat an eye but for her, her reputation as a homewrecker has come to define her).

Claire Nakti had done a survey on nepo babies and concluded that Revati was the most common nakshatra among them. This is very interesting to me because I feel like most Revati nepo babies including Angelina, Jamie Lee Curtis, Robert Downey Jr etc acquire fame that far exceeds that of their parents. It eclipses any privilege they already had; all these individuals are far more successful than their parents ever were. Obviously being privileged helps and this does not apply to all Revati nepo babies ofc but many people mentioned on the list are total superstars who you'd never guess came from famous families, this is to say that they're not famous for being famous or because of their families, they're icons in their own right.

And even with Angelina, she grew up with a single mom and was estranged from her dad for most of her life so her upbringing was rather modest even with the showbiz ancestry she had.

Olga Tokarczuk has Shravana Sun, Vishaka Moon & Purvaphalguni Rising

Olga is a Polish writer who is known for the weird, quirky, mystical, and philosophical nature of her novels (She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018). It can be said that many of her characters live on the fringes of society but have a very strong sense of justice and fairness despite their position that renders them powerless. She has 2 Mleccha naks in her big 3 and a Brahmin one, I thought this particular quote was very interesting because its Mleccha naks who acutely understand the nature of human suffering but the Venus ruled Brahmin nak insists on how being deluded, that our psyches prevent us from seeing the true nature of human suffering. If you saw everything exactly as it was, you'll die. In order to live, you must be willing to be deluded.

Lindsey Lohan, Ardra Sun, Bharani Moon & Mrigashira Rising plays a social outcast in Mean Girls who tries to infiltrate a popular girls group (despite having a Shudra & Mleccha nak, her Vaishya asc helps her ascend the social hierarchy to some extent). The movie ends with her having managed to destroy the clique of the Plastics and create a new social order at her highschool.

Miley Cyrus is a Vishaka Moon & Demi Lovato is a Bharani Moon and its pretty well documented how they both didn't feel like they "belonged" or "fit in". They rebelled in different ways and have opened slammed Disney on multiple occasions.

Presley Gerber who has the word "misunderstood" tattooed on his face has Ardra Sun, Dhanishta Moon, Jyeshta Rising and Ketu in Shravana

Ardra is a Shudra nak, Shravana is a Mleccha nak whilst Dhanishta & Jyeshta are Vaishya naks

As a result of feeling left out, misunderstood, isolated, excluded etc Mleccha nak natives often tend to keep to themselves and are very very private. They are loners at heart.

This is by no means a comprehensive list but off the top of my head here's a bunch of celebrities who are very low-key and very private. There are no rumours, no pap photos, nothing, just silence (for the most part).

L to R

Denise Richards- Vishaka Moon

Christian Bale- Shravana Sun, Mars in Bharani amatyakaraka

David Duchovny- Ashlesha Sun

Shakira- Shravana Sun

Elijah Wood- Shravana Sun

Harry Styles- Shravana Sun

Saoirse Ronan- Bharani Moon

Penelope Cruz- Bharani Sun

Beyonce- Vishaka Moon

Uma Thurman- Bharani Sun

L to R

Charlize Theron- Ashlesha Moon

Amanda Seyfried- Ashlesha Moon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt- Ashlesha Moon

Paul McCartney- Ashlesha Moon

Ryan Gosling- Vishaka Sun

Adam Driver- Vishaka Sun

Leonardo DiCaprio- Vishaka Sun

All of these celebrities maintain a pretty low profile and only interact with the press when they're promoting something.

only 30 images are allowed per post acc to tumblr so there will be a part 2!!

I hope this post spreads some light into the nature of Outcaste naks, I have a lot more research that I'll share in my next post<33

[b0rtney]

you want homosexuals in every conceivable scenario?

Boy oh boy do i have the substack for u: mine!

NO PLEASE LEMME TELL U THE STORIES BEFORE U LEAVE--

Current is Cinnamon Muffins. TLDR: Six queer boys in a homophobic tiny town in Iowa are trying to survive winter break dodging awful parents, social stigma, and mental health crises.

Next up is How to Get Away with Marriage. TLDR: Guy with awful, religious parents marries guy who is living paycheck to paycheck so they can both get all their younger sisters out of their shitty situations (but they fall in love ofc).

Longer desc of these plus the stories coming in the next months are below the cut! (Genres include fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, mystery/thriller, coming-of-age)

Cinnamon Muffins centers on Taylor Macready, a homeless senior in high school holed up in a sleeping bag under a bridge after his parents kicked him out. He's fully ready to just accept death when it starts snowing on him while he's stargazing, but social outcast Wes Post is taking his nightly walk in a new direction and stumbles (literally) on his longtime crush, Taylor. Dragging Taylor home, Wes's parents prove themselves the only reasonable parents in this book by setting Taylor up on their pullout couch and nursing him back to health. Then Wes, whose closest school relationships include the kids who bully him for his anxiety-related speech impediment, has to get in touch with Taylor's friends to let them know the situation. Meanwhile, the mean girls of Swisher High School are starting a campaign to get homosexuality banned at school. Administratively, it gets nowhere, but it inspires several small-minded shitwads to take matters into their own hands. While Taylor is used to getting into fights, Wes isn't, but he'll have to sink or swim, because the teachers are not paid enough to care what happens in the hallways during lunchtime.

How to Get Away with Marriage opens with Luke Providence, son of a devoutly Baptist family in Nebraska, proposing to Patrick Demden, son of a recently-deceased alcoholic mechanic. The wealthy Providence parents have a longstanding agreement that once their children get married, they will receive a trust of $100,000 to use on the down-payment of a house and to start a life with their spouse. Patrick's younger sister tutors Luke's younger sister, but Patrick's sister is 16. This age gap doesn't matter much to the Providence parents, but it matters a lot to Luke, so he strikes a deal with Patrick: tell the parents he'll marry the sister, legally marry the brother, everyone gets to move to Colorado and escape abusive religious parents and crushing poverty. He needn't have done something so elaborate, Patrick would have married him for any reason at all. But the secret doesn't stay secret forever, and the Providence parents eventually come knocking, trying to recollect their children and their money.

Future stories I'll keep shorter, but feel free to ask about them either in the replies or my askbox and I'll elaborate!

Assassin x Demon King will be getting books 2 and 3! ADK is about an assassin and the king he was supposed to kill, both of whom have quit their jobs and started trying to save as many people as the assassin killed before he dies of a slow-acting poison in twelve months. Books 2 and 3 will have things getting awfully tragic and somewhat more horny than before! (No smut will make it into the print versions of these, that will remain on my substack alone)

How to Find Your Friends After the End of the World is a fantasy inspired by the isekai anime genre. Five friends in their 20s are on earth as it is wracked by a violent battle between the Heroine of the Gods and her Nemesis, and then, suddenly, they aren't. Earth has been destroyed and they are now on a new planet, in new (non-human) bodies, strewn across continents! On their new wrists, they have tattoos with each others' names, plus one (or two) new ones: their soulmates. Court politics and wastelands of monsters await them as they try desperately to reach each other, and their soulmates try desperately to reach them.

HtFYF will also have a prequel, focusing on the events that led to earth's destruction, and the battle between the Heroine of the Gods, a young woman, and her Nemesis, who seems to know more about the gods than she says. Why do the gods keep choosing such young heroes? What has the Nemesis done to put the world in such peril? Will the Heroine get to graduate on time despite the sleep she's been missing!?

The following do not yet have titles, but are fully fleshed out works ready to be thrown onto Substack:

A trilogy of eleven teens assisting in the fight against an agency that traffics, tortures, and then sells children with preternatural powers and abilities, and an exploration of the trauma those kids emerge with.

A murder mystery where a woman's sister dies, the police rule it suicide, and the woman enlists the help of a rumored contract killer to help her solve the murder-- but why does this rumored murderer-for-hire seem to know so much about her sister's death? And who was truly responsible?

A campy novel about a woman who graduates college, goes back to her hometown, and finds her highschool crush is still there, still single, and has since come out as gay. Of course, the only solution is to co-adopt an at-risk child from a neighbor.

This post will remain pinned on my profile, but for the next few days I'm having a sale on my substack tiers-- 20% off! That makes the cost to you just $8 per month to get a chapter every other day. 15 chapters for $8; that's a steal!

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

I voted Ryuji on the poll but I don't think he'd actually be homophobic, he'd just accidentally say things that are iffy because he doesn't watch his mouth/has absorbed homophobic ideas unintentionally. And when people come out to him he'd be extremely supportive and try really hard to be a bro about it and anything he'd say would be completely well intentioned. He's just. a little dumb sometimes and that's ok and everyone understands he means well.

But like honestly literally none of the Thieves are homophobic actually. They're all social outcasts they don't judge anyone based on that kind of thing. And Morgana is both trans and doesn't care or understand how romantic/sexual attraction works because he's a child and a cat and the only attraction he's ever felt is one childish crush on a girl who dresses like a cat.

[shopcat]

do u have any particular sexuality thoughts abt eddie the way you do abt steve?

not really at least in the same way? i don't think!! :0 w steve we have a lot of basis to go off of bc we get 4 seasons of specific characterisation expressly to do with how he interacts with romance + girls + his own reputation thereupon so it's really fun to extract stuff from that but with eddie he's sort of more of a blank slate but also funnily, in comparison, we do get a LOT of character building back story and development even through implication that makes it a different kind of interesting thing to gather stuff from 🤔 it's also funny that we know way more about eddie's home life than robin OR steve's LOL literally just funny...

i think it's fun that the gay hc is so popular with eddie and i get it he is a little gayboy tbh and i also think it ties in significantly with how... you can tell from extrapolation and just basic like, relation that eddie is this guy who was outcast by society BEFORE he developed his own counterculture against it and the way he wears his specific type of anti authoritarian anti mainstream bubble wrap is in line i think with some sort of intrinsic part of him, and others, that he may feel he needs to protect and defend against. a not insignificant part of a lot of actual counterculture is being against the bigotry and oppression that goes hand in hand with society at large and, fundamentally, the loudest voices against oppression and the leading forefront will always be and SHOULD always be the victim and survivors of it, and a gay metalhead with a punk rock attitude in the 80s is the easiest thing in the world to imagine. i think we as like lgbt people and anyone else who has a certain hand in... allyship can pick up on this really easily with eddie and see ourselves in that part of him that feels different than the same vein social ostracisation like, dustin and mike go through, even if on the surface it appears similar.

so yeah basically i think he's literally gay. i don't know if the quote unquote gay CODING was intentional and i'm going to go with a definitive Not but i will enjoy the spoils nonetheless. i also think it's significant that a lot of the real life inspiration for eddie specifically WERE gay kids and probably that is where this unintentional coding springs from... the hunt the freak line is a very important one to me as well for this specifically with that it's him and robin, a canonical gay woman, meeting him on his level without skipping a beat. this is also where i disagree that obviously his death was not "bury your gays" because anything picked up on was not something that was figuratively put down 😭😭 the duffers did not have EDDIE circled on a whiteboard with 💯 GAY -> pointed to it we literally just think he's gay.

also just bc i kind of side stepped the sexuality hc itself unintentionally HEH i think he could also be bi sure and all this remain true!!! though i don't think he had any feelings for chrissy (and to me reading that scene as him having a crush on her comes off... different. soz.) potential age gap notwithstanding. i think bi eddie could be fun and also hilarious bc it means he had even more of a quote unquote chance and still erm. committed virgin sacrifice </3 i do agree with the like general consensus of him being bi feels different if only because erm... there is a lack of actual evidence that he is inclined one way or the other and being assumptive of his supposed attraction to women in order to undercut the gayness is like a very classic homophobic. thing. and also weirdos ruin it

if eddie is bisexual i think it is purely in theory for him as well as us (lol) and he would probably be SO annoying stoner-esque "why limit your love to just one half of the population mannn" type about it despite never getting any bc he's scared of girls in a gayboy way. also i do not see truly any part of him being some sort of behind the scenes suave seductor of women DESPITE what the horny minded may or may not think... he is not looming over any girl being some sort of manic pixie edward cullen reject he goes home and neurodiversely plays the same chord over and over again on his guitar then passes out wearing jeans he is literally a wet eyed loser not a wattpad BAD BOY. My poor little princess RIP

[crimsonwing62]

Bruh, okay I just had this idea so bear with me...

I'm re-watching heartstopper. now i hyper fixated on this show last year and I'm currently hyper fixated on Stranger Things especially the Fanon of Steddie and The Fruity Four (Six?).

I had a thought - the parallels. The similarities...

Nick Nelson and Steve Harrington - Golden retriever sports king, chaotic bisexual, Heart of Gold, and expected by social structure to be a certain way, date a certain type of person. Meets someone and *learns some things*. Fixated on his hair. A smooth mf whose also a dork.

Charlie Spring and Eddie Munson - The outcast at school but comes out of his shell with his friends. uncertain when it comes to love because of previous experiences. Nerdy, Curly Hair, Smart, Musically inclined. ? Potential MH issues - depending who you ask

Darcy Olsen and Robin Buckley - Awkward, Chaotic Lesbian, Confident in herself, Rejects society by dressing however they want, also musically inclined, Possibly knows Charlie/Eddie via band. The scene on the rugby field where Darcy asks Charlie if him and nick are friends or *friends*, I think Robin would do the same.

Tara Jones and Nancy Wheeler - Confident badass, Observing everything. Less confident in her sexuality than Robin as she hasn't consciously known for long.

Also, The kiss when we were 13 and Stancy dating parallel.

Tao Xu and Jonathan Byers - Film/photography obsessed, not academically inclined but copes well at school and smart in other ways. protective of friends/family

Elle Argent and Argyle - okay there's hardly any parallels between these but I also don't know much about Jargyle.

Isaac Henderson and Will Byers - Quiet, out the way, creative, when they speak they mean what they say and when they relax they come out of their shells. doesn't quiet work with the Byler ship and AroAce Isaac but they're parallels not 100% match up.

Harry Greene and Tommy H - homophobic prick who may or may not be in love with their best friend. (not that Harry and Nick are friends but some friend group)

Ben Hope and Billy Hargrove? - abusive arseholes that hide behind macho bravado. Tries to date women to hide their fruity tendencies (The girl at the gate and Karen Wheeler)

Imogen Heaney and Carol Perkins? - only girl in an all male friend group. Or Tammy Thompson - Tries to woo Steve but fails bc he is in love with someone else (I know in canon timeline

Tori Spring and Max Mayfield - ignoring the age difference, Sarcastic, Observant, teasing, sibling like relationship

Oliver Spring and Dustin Henderson - okay personalities don't quiet match up buuut hyperactive, annoying younger sibling energy, that absolutely adores both Charlie/Eddie and Nick/Steve.

Mr Ajayi and Mr Hagan - kind, amazing teacher who actually cares about their students well being. offers a safe space in their classrooms.

Julio Spring and Wayne Munson - protective quiet presence in their children's lives. not seen much but we know they'll be ready to bat for their kid in a heartbeat if they asked.

Yan Xu and Jim Hopper - no reason other than they "leave the bedroom door open a tad" comment...

Idk that's all I got there's sooo many more characters I've missed but those are the ones my brains found so far.

[daughter-of-melpomene]

For the faceclaim and fandom ask game: Halle Bailey + Glee, please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs ✨💛✨

OH, NOW THIS COMBINATION IS GENIUS!! Thanks so much, Alexandra!! <3 (And I’m also gonna tag @luucypevensie and @carmens-garden for funsies.)

NAME: Ally Willis.

LOVE INTEREST: Rachel Berry.

SUMMARY: The daughter of a wealthy politician and a recent child of divorce, Ally isn’t exactly thrilled about moving to a small town in Ohio of all places. Sure, everyone at school admires her fashion and her family’s money and wants to be her friend, and she’s able to find a place on the cheerleading squad pretty quickly, but she doesn’t want to live with just her dad in a house that’s too big and ornate for just two people and go to school with a bunch of people who only want to be her friend for selfish reasons - she wants to be back in DC with her mom, using her platform to speak on social issues and going to huge protests that march right past the White House. So, as a last desperate resort, Ally decides to join the group of “freaks” and outcasts known as McKinley High’s glee club, figuring that her dad will have to let her move back to live with her mom if she gets bullied bad enough in Lima. She doesn’t quite count on actually making friends among this little island of misfit toys, and she definitely doesn’t count on falling in love with an ambitious drama queen with one of the best voices she’s ever heard.

OTHER INFO:

My girl is possibly the greatest fashionista to ever grace the halls of McKinley High. Santana hates her for this.

She’s also very conscious of social issues - definitely does not hesitate to call any member of the New Directions out when they’re being homophobic to Kurt or Santana or ableist to Artie or anything.

Her story is very much that classic tale of someone using or joining a group purely as a means to accomplish something that will get them away from that group, but then they quickly realize that they actually like all the people in that group and can’t bring themselves to leave.

She has a huge love for Disney movies, and is responsible for almost all of the Disney songs New Directions covers.

She and Rachel do not like each other at all at first, especially once it’s revealed that Ally only joined the New Directions so that she could get out of Lima, but they eventually grow closer and enter into what’s actually a very loving and very musical relationship.

send me a fandom + a faceclaim and i’ll make an oc!!

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

More Ronance music thoughts 4 u

“The Village, The Wolf, and The Boy” by Taylor Berrett is a Robin Buckley anthem, argue with a wall <33

I’m thinking so hard about her singing this to Nancy, or at least with Nance in mind, especially their shared fear of coming out in the 80s

The literal first line is “I wanna see the world”

Robin wants to get out of Hawkins and she wants to travel, and this line reflects that. It talks about chasing after a girl, something she wants but is scared too do, she can’t bear it

The song talks about giving up and closing eyes—closing off that part of herself, closing the door to the opportunity of love because she’s terrified of rejection or becoming a social pariah—until she meet Nancy

The chorus for one, is definitely giving Ronance

So if you've got an anxious heart

You're not the only one

And I won't let you fall apart

If you don't let me run

Robin has been shown time and time again to be kind of an anxious person. She has a cool and calm outward exterior in S3, but in 4 we see her let those walls come down and reveal the nervous rambling mess she is on the inside. She could be comforting Nancy, telling her she’s not alone in her fears (maybe after Nancy confesses her feelings, but says she’s scared because it’s Hawkins in the 80s). She comforts Nancy, tells her she won’t let Nancy fall apart if Nancy stays with her and helps her learn to not run away (operation Croissant, anyone?). The previous lyrics also could be her comforting Nancy, “hey, you’re not alone, I’ve been there, this is how I feel”

The song talks about breakdowns and laughing it off, which is such a Robin thing to do. “Romanticizing the cost,” perhaps the cost of baring her soul to one Nancy Wheeler? Opening her rib cage to offer her heart to the other girl, knowing it could cost her everything, but being so hopelessly in love that it’s worth it?

And the boy says something's wrong

But the people don't believe

And the wolf comes in tonight

When your mind is trying to sleep

The boy would be Robin and Nancy, saying this prejudice is wrong, because really, how can love be wrong? How can the soft sweetness between them, the warmth of holding each other through the night and comforting each other through nightmares, how can it be wrong? But people don’t believe—it’s Hawkins in the 80s. The wolf is their own internalized fears and self doubt, the comphet that plagues Nancy, the fear of being outcasted that haunts Robin’s dreams. But now they have each other to hold through the night, to chase the wolf away

Robin being a feral werewolf as a metaphor for her suppressed feelings and fears, anyone? This big, ugly, angry beast that wants to hurt those that might hurt her, but sees Nancy and calms immediately, because she’s so in love it’s bleeding out of her? Or even the opposite, with werewolf Nancy? Werewolf girlfriends even?

And I'll make up ways to steal my joy

And when it's real I don't believe it

And I swear it's just like being

The village, the wolf and the boy

Think about how many queer people NOW who have struggled with internalized homophobia and fear of coming out and comphet and tell me even seemingly cool and confident Robin doesn’t struggle even more in the 80s. She can’t help but overthink and imagine what would happen if she let herself feel, let herself be free to love who she loves. It’s like she has the boy, the homophobic words of her neighbors, and the internal fears of the wolf tearing her up all at once.

I wanna feel the sun

And find out what the truth is

And chase after a girl

'Cause no matter how it breaks me

I can't bring myself to hate this world

But despite all this, despite the constant inner battle, despite the way the world would view them, Robin is tired of hiding. She’s been tortured by Russians, fought literal monsters, seen the cold of the Upside-Down—and she’s felt the warm sun of Nancy’s smile, known the softness of her touch, drowned in the fondness in her eyes, and she knows

She’s knows it’s worth it. The world may break them down, but they have each other, she’ll tell Nancy. They have each other, and because of that, maybe the world isn’t so bad. They’ll be okay, they’ll put each other back together, and in the warmth of each other’s arms, they’ll each find it’s hard to hate the world the other lives in

[noonesgaylikegatson]

Re : Mean Girls

Exactly! It’s outdated. I think they should have taken inspiration from Senior Year (2022). The « Queen Bee » in that movie wasn’t popular because she was rich, pretty and all about fitting into norms. She was popular because she was rich, had a good social media presence and she was mean not because she was homophobic but because she made everyone believe that she was all about fighting for social justice when really it was all performative and a way for her to keep her high social status, since everyone adored how passionate she seemed about « helping the outcasts ».

She wanted to seem like she was the most « woke » (for lack of a better word, sorry, I hate it btw) but it was clear that she did not truly understand what exactly the terms she was using really meant (calling a girl’s Instagram post Body Positive even though it was literally just a picture of her in a swimsuit, acting fake-nice with the people who don’t fit into beauty standards, etc.)

My point is, mean girls in 2024 don’t act like mean girls did in 2004. There are so many ways to reimagine these tropes for today or even make new ones! They just have to be creative or go to Twitter or TikTok if they want to see how mean people can be! 😂

Yes this is true. But to be fair. The Movie is based off of the musical which came out in 2017 and was based off the original movie. So it would be hard to rewrite what it meant to be a mean girl.

[crvvys]

there is a robust community that teaches women how to endure their relationships with men. which reinforces the social script that women are not anything until they’re with men. there’s this pressure placed on us all bc of that.

women shouldn’t have to come to each other and get advice on how to make their male partner love or respect her. she should be taught that disrespect is not something to ignore and that she will be okay without him. I think on this a lot bc I was an outcast among my many bisexual friends who suffered through their relationships with men and what struck me was how they didn’t want to stay single or date women (bc I’d suggest these things) and that’s probably for many reasons and I’ve thought a lot about why and I have a few reasons but one major one is that there is not really a bigger support system among women than with heartbreak or dealing with heterosexual relationships. why would bisexual women choose to be single if they did want love but also didn’t want homophobic attacks. or to abandon the social script that they can follow.

there is no robust support for lesbians or lesbian relationships. there is no robust support for single women who are pressured to partner with men. the social script of “man is active, woman is passive” is absent in same sex relationships so many bisexual women don’t know how to engage (I have my own harsh opinions on this but I digress). I may not like their choice or that logic but I can understand it. bc I did not have a strong community in the same sense and it’s something that I think a lot of women take for granted. women can lean on their female friends, female relatives, even female strangers lol to get through pain with their heterosexual relationships. it’s virtually ubiquitous. but I think it’s faulty. not the support itself but the framing and the message of the support.

teach women and girls that they are people first and then move on to the relationship aspect so that women can tell the difference between enjoyment and endurance. we can’t get far if we can’t even admit that heterosexism is strong in a lot of women’s thinking.

[memecucker]

something i noticed with fandom twitblr is this weird habit of westerners like, coming out and saying that japanese-derived terms for things are somehow more sinister or predatory or something “than people think”

like there’s this weird strain of SJ that thinks yaoi is homophobic propaganda and even specifically attacks gay men that consume yaoi and they make a big deal out of how fujoshi and fundashi literally mean “rotten girl” and “rotten boy” and think that should be taken as a literal reference to moral character or something. And I dont think ive ever seen a profile that was like “DNI if you like slashfic” but you do see that for yaoi so like hm

also people that talk about “the origin of the word ‘otaku’” without ever mentioning its actual etymology which is that its basically one of the formal ways to address someone and was referencing the nerd habit of using inappropriately formal language due to social awkwardness. also people are still under the impression that “otaku” suggests someone with malicious intent and the ‘proof’ thats given is just true crime podcasts that buy into the narrative of 1980s serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki being called the “Otaku Killer” bc police found a manga collection in his apartment (which is like, incredibly banal for a young Japanese person) and media inaccurately claimed his extensive video collection was all anime when it was actually mostly live-action movies and porn they were just doing the same thing as conservatives blaming Columbine on Marilyn Manson by using media-causation theory to stir up a moral panic 

also if we’re gonna talk about etymologies and fandom the word “geek” originally referred to a type of freak show performer who would just chase a chicken around an area and bite its head off for spectators (yes this is actually what “geek” originally meant) and the fact that a freakshow geek didnt have an unusual body like people with deformities or otherwise nor was it a talent like sword-swallowing and all you needed was average fitness and intact teeth resulted in geeks being stereotyped as the lowest type of carney (a type of person already viewed as outcasys) and more specifically that geeks tended to be people with mental disabilities or local alcoholics paid for in booze because of how simple but also demeaning the job was. And its current use originated in geek being used as an insult to describe someone seen as an outcast of outcasts and you can probably picture the evolution from that point.  So imagine someone in another country that doesnt speak English being like “Hey! You shouldnt call yourselves “geeks”. That word in English has a very terrible and negative meaning if you look at this decades old thing!” and you get why the semi-regular fearmongering over the word “otaku” is kinda dumb

[lesbian-kyoru]

lesbian kyoru thoughts

because i’ve gotta start living up to my url sometime. so consider:

kyo. yes, my lesbian fave. and it’s just so easy to read kyo as a lesbian while changing very little about the story. have we considered how inherently queer the “monster inside you trope” is? and especially because kyo’s arc in canon is largely about learning self-acceptance, forgiveness, and self-love through falling in love with tohru, i think the true form arc serves as an excellent allegory for kyo coming to terms with her sexuality, since in both cases it’s all about tohru staying by kyo’s side unconditionally, in spite of things that kyo views as “monstrous” about herself. it’s the monster lesbian story i want please give it to me!!!!!

for this AU, i’d have kyo already out as a lesbian at the beginning of the story, in sort of an open secret way. the sohmas definitely know that kyo is a lesbian, and it’s looked down upon by the sohma clan. the notable exception would be tohru, who doesn’t know that kyo is a lesbian—and same with true form, kyo does not want tohru to find out that she’s a lesbian because she thinks that, if tohru sees this part of her that she has no control over, it will ruin everything and completely disgust tohru

along with just fitting kyo’s overwhelming lesbian vibes, i think this creates a really good dichotomy between yuki, who is the golden boy of the family and deeply closeted, and kyo, very aggressively not in the closet and the black sheep/outcast of the family. wlw mlm hostility at its finest

and now we have tohru. while kyo is already out as a lesbian, tohru is deeply closeted, deeply unaware that she’s closeted, and also just. deeply repressing that she is a lesbian djjdjdjdjdkdj. i really like having this contrast in tohru and kyo’s experiences with coming out and realizing their sexualities because i think it fits their different personalities + upbringings, and also it just would be nice to have more than one Coming Out Narrative in a single piece of media. tohru is that girl in high school who absolutely knows what being gay means, grew up around queer people (kyoko’s girl gang hello…..), her entire friend group is made up of queer people—but she’s still like no i’m just the token straight friend in the group :) until…..lmfao

this mirrors tohru’s canon arc really well because she struggles so much with repression, particularly with repressing what she considers as “ugly” parts of herself, as well as her true feelings for kyo a lot. you can also draw a really neat parallel in the way that tohru accepts kyo’s true form in a very loving, non-judgemental manner, but it’s a lot harder to accept her own “ugly” qualities. i think that makes such a perfect connection to like, she’s obviously not homophobic and accepts that kyo is a lesbian no problem! but then when she falls in love with kyo, it’s a lot harder for tohru to accept that she is also gay because of intense internalized homophobia that she’s directing at herself

also bringing up our favorite gay yuki again, something that would be super fascinating in this is AU would be how yuki still envies how kyo embodies a lot of hyper-masculine, boyish traits, which yuki feels he can’t present in the same way. in this AU, there’s another layer to yuki’s jealousy though because kyo is a girl doing that. so yuki almost resents that kyo can pull that off and innately have those qualities come so easily to her (like being more brash and confident, getting along with groups, being more typically aggressive and “boyish”), when yuki is the one who is male and feels like those traditional masculine behavior expectations should come more easily to him

this would also tie really nicely into how yuki loves tohru like a mother, where it adds another layer to kyo seeing tohru in a way that yuki can't. not only does yuki agonize over how he doesn’t love tohru romantically when heteronormativity makes him feel like he should—now, you also have kyo being able to see tohru “the way a man sees a woman” when kyo is a woman but yuki is a man, adding even more to yuki’s big bad comphet struggle

this just adds so much to yuki and kyo’s already very complicated dynamic, because now you have yuki’s internalized homophobia making him hate himself and directing that at kyo, scapegoating her as causing all of their problems with akito and the sohma clan by being out herself. meanwhile, kyo would struggle even more with eventually acknowledging that yuki isn’t the perfect, straight sohma prince that she views him as, and that hating yuki won’t fix her internalized self-hatred. all of this makes even more prominent that underlying theme of “you have everything i have ever wanted when you don’t deserve it, and i hate you but why can i not be more like you.” again, mlm wlw hostility at its finest

yes, yuki and kyo did hate-makeout once. yes, it did confirm for both of them that they are in fact homosexuals

one last thought: i know a huge facet of canon is that people of the opposite sex hugging triggers the zodiacs’ animal transformations, which is heteronormative lol. but honestly, i would keep the curse being activated by opposite sex hugs even in this AU—because i think it would be super interesting to explore how girls touching each other is a lot more socially accepted as “platonic” even when it is definitely not platonic lmao. but on the flip side of that, you can also then explore the Lesbian Experience of feeling like you’re evil and weird for thinking a girl is pretty and wanting to hold her hand, and therefore never so much as looking at a girl no matter what Ever

it’s already iconic how takaya accidentally Invoked Gay in canon by making kakeru the only friend of yuki’s that he can experience touch and physical affection from because they’re both male.....that’s gay shit.....but there are SO MANY LAYERS when you add lesbian kyoru to the mix. miss deeply closeted tohru is falling hard for kyo and slowly testing the waters with touch—brushing up against kyo, tapping on her shoulder, holding her hand….because they’re both girls and just friends right? it doesn’t mean anything because tohru is straight right? LMFAO meanwhile kyo is convinced that her crush on tohru is absolutely evil, and even though touching her wouldn’t trigger kyo’s transformation, it still terrifies her way more than touching a guy ever will

it just would be such a power move, in a story where opposite sex hugs are a magical taboo, to have your main lesbian couple not dealing with any problems because of the magical taboo that doesn’t apply to them—but because of the much more understated taboo of their queerness, coming from internalized homophobia and fears of “transforming” into something inhuman and monstrous if they ever gave into their true feelings!!!! i just!!!!! ahhhhhh LESBIANS!!!!!!

[blackradandmad]

i want to tell y’all a little story. it is traumatic and there is no happy ending, but i’m sharing here on radblr to ultimately find connection and hopefully resources for grief and trauma caused by the fatal effects of homophobia.

so let’s go back in time to lilith’s freshman year of high school... i was a masculine, openly bisexual black teenage girl living in a sundown town. life wasn’t looking too peachy. until i found solace in band, specifically a group of juniors that were majority lgb, people of color, or whatever flavor of the week the popular kids deemed as “social outcasts.” we carpooled to school early to fuck around in the band hall, we navigated our large and intimidating school in our group, we ate lunch in the band hall, and of course had a myriad of group practices or private lessons or marching competitions that led to us getting incredibly close. the person i was closest with in this group was named eric [changed for privacy].

eric was a junior, he was openly gay at school, militantly atheist, did band, debate, and show choir, was always being annoyingly contrarian, made me cackle laugh, and was the big brother i never had. quickly he began to spend every day at my house, and my parents treated him like a son. he confided in me that his parents are homophobic and he plans on coming out to them when he moves out, but that it was getting so difficult leading a double life.

fast forward six months, and im on the phone with payne at night. the clock strikes midnight, and i sing him happy birthday. “sweet 17! a year closer to authenticity!” i hear his smile through the phone. “i’m already so nervous to tell my parents--”

the phone sounds like it was dropped, and i hear a muffled voice of a woman yell, “tell us that you’re a devilish homosexual?” i heard a scuffle start before someone grabs the phone and hangs up. i spend the next two hours pacing my kitchen floor, crying, wondering, and then i get a text. a long winded, over apologetic text from eric, informing me that his parents disowned him and kicked him out because they found out he was gay. i talked to my parents and of course they don’t want their practically adopted son to be a highschooler living out of his car, and we moved him into our guest bedroom at about 0300 that night. 

we were both sobbing wrecks, and he slept in my bed for a week straight. every night before i went to bed, i would squeeze his cheeks, kiss his forehead, and say, “yr so good.”

and life went on. i gained a brother. we did everything together, he helped me with my homework, he taught me debate skills, i showed him horror movies at midnight when we had to be up for school the next day at 0530. my parents showed him nothing but love. he lived with me until he graduated.

after graduation, he moved states, but we kept in touch frequently. he was doing well at a job he genuinely liked and had an amazing support system. but... true, real shunning from every member of yr family for a part of who you inherently are takes a toll on you.

so one day, a couple years later, he decided that his only option was jumping off a building to his death. his last text to me, sent hours before it happened, reads, “I’m sorry. I love you. But I know you know how hard this has always been.” i knew, then, what was going to happen. i didn’t get a call from a mutual friend until the morning after.

his parents? silence. they either privately buried him with an unmarked grave or cremated him. no one knows; i’ve called so many funeral homes and cemeteries in the area. not even his own brother was allowed to come to the “funeral.” my best friend. just... gone. no remembrance. 

so i organized a memorial. we got together, ate food, wore rainbow everything, laughed at how amazing eric was, and sobbed over the homophobia that is literally killing people. i posted the photos on facebook, and wrote some things, including condolences to his brother and friends, but specifically stated that i do not extend them to his family and consider them to have blood on their hands.

they contacting me demanding to have all photos of the memorial and any photos of me and eric taken down. i had a few choice words for them.

every year on his birthday and death anniversary, i check their facebook profiles. it’s like eric never even existed to them. they disowned him in life and eternally in death.

i don’t know how to profoundly end this tragedy. the grief is still a festering wound. i am still so angry. i hate that this happened. and i miss him. i miss him so, so much.

[simpsocial]

Haikyuu boys in a public American school

This is gonna be chaotic I hope and this is all ✨my personal opinion✨ so don’t get pressed pls and thank y’a

Characters in this post: Sawamura Daichi; Sugawara Koshi; Azumane Asahi; Nishinoya Yu; Tanaka Ryunosuke; Hinata Shoyo; Oikawa Toru; Goshiki Tsutomu; Miya Atsumu

a/n + warning ig - there are many curse words in this post, I’m not sensoring it nor apologizing, I planned on doing a lot more characters it this has been sitting in my drafts for months so yeeeaaaaaah

Sawamura Daichi -

Sits in either the very middle of the classroom or right in front in every single class, he always finds a way

If someone “accidentally” say in his seat one look and they are nervous laughing from three chairs over now

Tbh he’s one of those guys I’d pass in the halls and kinda be scared of just because he’d have his mean face on

He’s not popular but not an outcast, he’s in that sweet middle ground that people know of him but really don’t care that much

His freshman year he probably sat in a random chair at a half-full table at lunch the first day with other people in that sweet middle ground socially and just never moved from that seat even though the table got increasingly crowded

He got jumped once by someone just because he was trying to help someone else, like the poor baby was helping a freshman up his junior year and someone just attacked him

That created a whole rumor about him and he became really popular among the ladies after that but he lives by ‘bro’s before hoes’

Definitely went to a few bonfire parties and got drunk as hell, also found quite a few kinks through those random hookups oop

By the time he graduated like half the school was calling him daddy just because it got out he had that specific kink but no one talked about the girl who literally called him it first

Sugawara Koshi -

The gay best friend that doesn’t want to tell people he isn’t actually gay because then he wouldn’t have any friends

Got half decent grades even though he was the person in the back corner along with that chatty group and he is definitely spilling steaming tea in every class

Ended up at Daichis table because all his friends were upperclassman with first lunch his freshman year, forming a friendship that would last until past senior year somehow

Ngl he would get in a cat fight with someone because they used the f slur on anyone, doesn’t even have to be him he’ll fight them regardless

Parents loooove him because he’s sooooo inoccent haha he’s not

He’s definitely almost been expelled for beating the absolute shit of some homophobic scum on campus

Azumane Asahi -

Okay so we all know Asahi is a teddy bear but tbh if I didn’t know him I would neeeeeveeeer ever talk to him, not even look at him probably

Like he’s the kid that might’ve done some bad things in middle school but put it in the past, except he still looks the part and is treated as so

Probably would be a guy from the bad side of town just because his family is poor

Nishinoya Yu -

The kid in the back of the class having a whole ass meal while the teacher goes on about how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell

Is either a wannabe SoundCloud rapper or hangs out with them

Has the sk8ter boi aesthetic but doesn't know how to skate at all, he carries around a skateboard with like a flame design but if he ever tried to use it he would break something

isn't the kid that carries the speaker that plays rap music in the halls but definitely encourages them every fucking day 

Tanaka Ryunosuke -

Speaker guy, need I say more? probably

He is the guy that Nishinoya would be encouraging in the halls

if he has a class with Noya you can bet your ass they’re having a mukbang in the back corner 

Has a low-key skater aesthetic and skates everywhere he goes no matter how short the trip is.

Gets called a simp cause he drinks his respect women juice, he’ll hold a door or say something nice to a girl and is bullied for it constantly

Hinata Shoyo -

Annoyingly energetic kid in his first period remedial math class

The freshman/sophomore that still hangs out with middle schoolers and gets shit for it

Oikawa Toru -

Fuck boi alert, like okay we aaaaalllllll know this pretty boy has fan girls but I feel like he’d be that guy that no matter how may girls/guys he fucks or how many hearts he breaks no one would care

He’s the fboy that doesn’t get talked about, like people kinda know his agenda is to ejaculate and evacuate but it’s not entirely confirmed by anyone

Goshiki Tsutomu -

Got ONE bad haircut freshman year and NEVER lived it down

Miya Atsumu -

The shameless flirt that almost everyone has at least tried to fuck, most got like halfway before he got bored

Unlike Oikawa he is the fuckboy that literally everyone has heard about, he keeps getting some just because he gets good reviews lmao

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

TUA MEAN GIRLS AU

(please understand that by AU, I mean they share an incredibly small amount of things in common with the original source material which I barely remember BUT the “story” takes place in the setting of the film) (not to be misleading or anything :p)

(BEWARE: abuse, bribery, immoral deals, bullying, homophobia, outing, transphobia, violence, abortion, teen pregnancy, etc.)

(If you can handle watching Umbrella Academy, this will be fine for you.)

(Regina) Five is the king of this school, and he has no plans to give up that position. He needs it to protect his people, as few and far between as they are, and himself, if he’s honest - he’s a trans and ace-aro kid in platonic love with the health class mannequin who he calls Dolores. Ruling with fear is basically all he can do. While he’s mean, you’ll soon realize that everything he says is more of a blunt observation that will improve your life if you just heed his advice. He doesn’t respect almost anybody - not the jocks, theatre geeks, nerds, cheerleaders, band kids - no one. However, if he does respect you, you have his trust and protection. And as a thirteen-year-old genius who only takes advice from always-slightly-drunk art teacher Agnes, his protection is pretty damn valuable: the last person who tried to hurt one of his people will never walk again. Leonard Peabody - he assaulted Vanya, and he paid. Five beat him to the point of hospitalization without getting a single speck of blood or bruise on himself, and Leonard’s the one who walked away in handcuffs. Do not fuck with any of Five’s people, or you have to fuck with Five. And you do not want to fuck with Five.

(Gretchen) Vanya is quiet and subdued, to the point where people question how she’s a part of the school’s most popular trio. If you talk to her for long enough though, it becomes clear: she knows any and everybody’s secrets. She writes for the school paper, and is known to write the stories her subjects don’t want anyone else to find out about. Like Diego, who she outed as bisexual last year to throw people off the trail of her own secret relationship with Sissy, earning her an ex-girlfriend and an ex-friend. She’s been trying to win Diego’s forgiveness ever since, but he won’t talk to her, returning every single one of her letters and gifts. (He’s blocked her number and all of her socials, which she only created to talk to him anyway.) She doesn’t know why Five keeps her around - Klaus loves to gossip, but Five never seems to want any of her secrets. She’s pleasantly surprised to find out that he apparently actually enjoys her company. (What?)

(Karen) Klaus is a fucking mess. He plays the dumb blonde (well, brunette) despite being a genius in his own right, even if he’s not at Five’s level. (To be fair, he’s pretty sure no one is.) He’s a drag queen on the weekends, a hangover from his time in the mafia gang, which he joined with his boyfriend Dave for six months after running away from home. Dave died in a gunfight, and Klaus has been fucked up (well, more than usual) ever since. Anorexia, PTSD, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, the works. But as lonely as he is, addicted to a fuckton of hard drugs and liquors to cope, he’s still an alluring, aloof, and bubbly popular girl, wearing pink skirts and glittery heels and leather corset crop tops to school every day. No matter how much his father Reginald beats him for it, he keeps being himself, because he’s brave and because even if Reginald hates him, someone far more important loves him… Diego. Diego, who Klaus has kissed under a million stars and in the lollipop shop down the road and on top of a cafeteria table. Diego, who Klaus has chased through the rain and into the street without rest or hesitation. Diego, whose words and promises and scribbles are immortalized on Klaus’ skin for all to see. Diego, who Klaus will love no matter how much bigotry they encounter or dickwads they’re beat up by or miles they put between them. Diego, Klaus’ ex-boyfriend.

(Cady) Allison is the new girl, and she has plans for the advantage being underestimated has brought her. She challenges Five on her first day there, earning his respect, and joins his group at the urgings of Klaus and Vanya, who like her company. A fashion queen, she acts as though she’s unfazed by any and everything, but nobody knows her true heartbreak - she still writes letters to a girl back home. Allison was expelled from her Christian private school for falling in love with a girl named Natalie, who she kissed in janitors’ closets and who she beat up racist and homophobic blondes for. She has no tolerance for bullies, and yet becomes one under Five’s guidance - until she upends his reign as queen bee and signs her death warrant. (Though she later finds out he was more angry at her for stealing Klaus and Vanya’s affection than his popularity.) Now her only hope for happiness in her final days is Ray, the Shakespeare-quoting nerd in her English class… or Luther, the quiet dork in the Star Trek t-shirts in her math class. Fuck, she misses Natalie.

(Aaron) Luther is the posterboard for toxic masculinity. He’s on the football team but hates it, preferring his math tutoring and fantasy books to tackling drills. His bisexuality is his deepest secret - he once slept with Diego when they were drunk at a party after a football game, and he can’t get it out of his head. He keeps thinking about what might happen if somebody found out - would he be shunned like Diego? Trapped like Vanya? Plastic like Klaus? He doesn’t know. All he can do is continue to be kind and hope Allison loves him enough to love every part of him, beyond his good lucks and British accent and fucking Ray. So Luther stands up to Five, and pays the price. He compliments Klaus on his skirts, and pays the price. (Diego seems to simultaneously love and hate him for it, it’s confusing.) He holds the door open for Ben, and pays the price. He’s big enough to be scary, kind enough to be overlooked - but after that incident with Vanya, everyone looks at him like he’s a monster to be locked up. And soon enough, “star student” Luther, “teacher’s pet” Luther, “completely under the principal’s thumb and completely friendless and completely terrified of the world around him” Luther might just break under all that pressure.

(Janis) Diego is the school’s resident outcast and rebel punk - he wears skirts and fishnets and whatever the fuck he wants because if Klaus taught him anything when they were dating it was that gender is a construct and he looks hot in leather. They broke up when Diego was outed and Klaus chose to stay quiet when people started shunning Diego for it, but despite it all, Diego still loves him. He misses when they used to paint their nails together, because he has to paint his own now. They used to stare up at the stars together and fall asleep in the grass, curled up in each other, on the nights that Klaus would run away in terror from his dad and Diego would breathe with him and let him press his hand against his heart until Klaus’ panic died down. His heart still flutters when he sees Klaus smile around a lollipop… but he won’t take him back. He won’t. He just can’t forgive him. So instead, he talks to his mom about everything. He plays soccer with his sister Eudora. He paints shit while smoking weed with his best friend Lila. He thinks of Luther being scared of him and laughs. You know, he was almost in Allison’s position freshman year - Five loved him, and so did Klaus and Vanya, but then Vanya outed him to the whole school for no reason like a day before he and Klaus were going to come out together. And now they’re all estranged, and Diego has the strangest feeling that he’s lost his family, even though his mom is the only real family he’s ever known. But maybe he’s wrong. Because Klaus keeps sending him “anonymous” letters, leaving them on the porch and spilling secrets Diego never even would’ve imagined him having. But forgiveness is still a question - that is, until one day Diego gets a letter in a different handwriting: Five’s, telling him to man the fuck up and love Klaus before he kills himself trying to tear the stars down for Diego’s own personal pleasure, and suddenly, Diego is crying on his porch in the rain, missing a slender, sassy skeleton in his arms and a pink, bruised but unbroken heart in his chest.

(Damien) Ben is everyone’s favorite, and the kindest person in the world. He used to be Klaus’ best friend, but that ended when Ben got into an accident (there was a bus involved, that’s all you need to know) that landed him in a wheelchair and Klaus couldn’t deal with the mental pain it caused him. They still stare at each other longingly from across the cafeteria, but never say a word to each other, not even in class. But beyond Klaus, Ben has never had any friends, though he has a million aquaintances: he’s the only student in the school that everyone loves and respects. Five holds the door for him, though Ben can tell without having to ask that Five would rather nobody know that. He hangs out with Diego because he knows Diego’s lonely, even if he never wants to admit it. He advises Allison not to let anyone control her, telling her he knows Natalie from summer camp and that the deaf girl still loves her and reads every single one of her letters. He gives Vanya his lunch when she skips to cry in the gym after Diego yells at her, even though a part of him might think she deserves it sometimes. He plays sports with Luther after school and offers him an ear and some jokes about his problems, and a few touchdowns when he’s feeling good. He acts as Ray’s student consultant, because he knows how hard Ray works to treat him like an equal. He tutors Eudora in basically everything, but cuts study sessions short to play video games when he can tell she’s too stressed to think. He’s ace and pan and proud about it; he runs the school’s GSA; he defends Diego and uses the right pronouns for Lila when they’re alone without Lila ever having to him he’s trans. He bugs Reginald’s office in one of their many meetings and records enough conversations to get him fired when he tries to expel Five. And finally, karma rewards him - Klaus shows up at his house with a box of brownies he baked himself, all covered in smiley faces, and shoves them into Ben’s hands, shaking his head when Ben assumes they’re for Diego. I miss you, Klaus tells him, and Ben tugs him down into a kiss, pulling away with a stammered apology. I’m sorry, he blushes, and Klaus beams, leaping into his lap and hugging him closer than ever, the two of them queerplatonic partners from then on, forever linked by their fingers in the hallway. Happy. Finally.

Lila is the shy artsy kid who carries around one of those leather brown satchels that looks threatening but is really just code for “I think I’m too cool for a backpack so I stuff all my incorrect homework and favorite comic books into this sack of knockoff pig skin instead”. He’s covered in paint most of the time, and wears Alice in Wonderland combat boots and Sharpie-doodle-covered jeans and big black hoodies and soft grey beanies; he’s trans and hacked off his own hair until an undercut with choppy slash bangs and there’s pink streaks in them, of course, to match the bubblegum he’s always chewing. His nails are bitten and black, and his skin is decorated with tattoos that are almost exclusively Bo Burnham quotes, with the exception of Diego’s name right over his heart. (Diego has Lila’s name over his too - and Klaus’ and Eudora’s, though he’d never tell them that.) He gives his skirts to Klaus and gets along well enough with Five, them both being trans and all, and everyone else knows him as that kid who’ll spread rumors and steal things for bribes. It’s not like he can get in more trouble than he’s already in - he lives with his bigoted and abusive bitch of a mom. But Diego is his best friend - the one he shoots and stabs things with, the one whose ex-boyfriend he talks to because Diego will never admit to himself that he misses Klaus like he would his own lungs if they were torn from his chest, the one whose sister he’s in love with. Wait. Fuck. Oops.

Eudora is Diego’s sister, and the captain of the soccer team. She wears her red jersey with the white numbers to school every day, and is covered in tattoos of magical creatures, because she believes in all of them. She wishes she was a werewolf, and has dressed up as one every year for Halloween since she was ten. (And she’s let anyone dressed a werewolf give her a hickey just in case that turned her. It’s good to have all your bases covered.) She has a broken down pick-up truck named Travis-Trevor-Thomas-literally-any-other-T-name that she loves beyond belief, and drives Diego to and from school in it, though he grumbles about it every day. She eats lunch with him even though he insists he’s fine eating alone and wants her to go away, because she knows he’s lying, and she hangs around the GSA with him sometimes too. She’s lab partners with her brother’s “secret” ex-boyfriend, and is concerned by how quiet he is - she’s seen enough documetaries to know that quiet never means anything good. But unfortunately, she has her own academic drama to deal with - Hazel and Cha-Cha hate her for helping Klaus, and she hates them right back, leading to failing grades in both English and history no matter how brilliant her work is. Mostly, though, Eudora tries to get to know Lila - the pretty, angry, sarcastic emo boy she shares half her classes with, and flirts with every day despite how he ignores her. (ONLY because Lila still smiles and laughs every time she flirts with him, and Eudora knows from Diego that Lila thinks Eudora only flirts with him because it’s some sort of game of “if you get the guy who’s hard to get you win the hundred dollar bet” deal. Otherwise she would’ve backed off immediately because not doing so would be harassment.) Eventually, though, Eudora runs off-field in the middle of a soccer game and over to the stands to ask Lila to prom. Finally, she gets a yes - and, most importantly, a real smile, curled against her own mouth like a Cupid’s bow of promise.

Sissy is Vanya’s ex-girlfriend, and Fuckwad Carl’s current girlfriend. She hooked up with him after breaking up with Vanya, too drunk to even speak, and now her belly’s ballooning and her parents are gonna kick her out unless she marries him like a good Christian woman. And she really didn’t expect herself to tell them to fuck off for this one, but apparently lesbianism makes you do crazy things - so here she is, standing on Ray’s porch in the pouring rain and hoping for the best. She’s depressed and shows that by reading the Bronte sisters; Klaus opens the door for her and brings her notes with doodles all over them which makes her cry; she misses Vanya but hates her for what she did to Diego. And yet Vanya’s there when she goes to the abortion clinic, smiling and joking and holding her hand like always. One day she’ll have a baby and she and Vanya will raise it right, but fuck - that baby sure as hell won’t be Carl’s. (Because fuck that guy.)

Ray is a humanitarian, so, naturally, he’s also the student council president. Five has never mistreated him, because everyone loves and respects Ray, even his critics. He nurtures Allison’s intelligence and encourages Vanya’s musical habits. He tutors Klaus in basically every subject but never talks down to him because he knows the kid’s a genius, just a bit spacey from all the drugs (and the ADHD, let’s be honest). He helps bring Luther out of his shell and takes Lila out shopping for boy clothes, all of which he pays for himself. He’s not scared or offended by Diego’s sarcasm or intensity, instead greeting him every day in class with a new dad joke. He treats Ben to intelligent conversation like an equal and doesn’t let Five be so harsh he’ll regret it later, though he still lets him say what he means and be himself. Everybody knows he’ll be the real President one day - even if for now he wears pajamas to school every day because, in his words, “Clothes are just too much fuckin’ work, man.” (There’s a possibility he may have still been high from hanging out with Klaus that day.)

The Handler is the evil physics teacher. (I don’t know why I said evil clearly all science teachers are evil.) (Yes this is coming from a place of aggression but hey at least I recognize that.) (Plus he deserves it. So fuck you.) (*sticks tongue out*) (Don’t you see how mature I am?) (I’m sorry I’m sorry back to your regularly scheduled programming -) She’s Lila’s mom, and continually and constantly misgenders him (and Five!) in class, not even because she hates trans people, just because she hates him (and Five!). Five always challenges her dictatorial rule, refusing to participate in solidarity with Klaus when she forces Klaus to sit out for wearing skirts. She keeps trying to flunk Ray too, the little bitch, but he just keeps doing so well that she can’t even come up with a falsely plausible reason to fail him! She’s been bribing Hazel and Cha-Cha to flunk certain students for years, unaware that Lila has been stealing from the Handler’s own purse to double those prices for those students to ace their classes. Everybody hates her, and for good reason. I hope she gets fired. (Shut up and let me project onto fictional characters, assholes.)

Reginald is the evil principal and Klaus’ abusive dad. He sends Klaus to school every day in a boys’ “uniform”, which Klaus has to change out of in the bathroom every day with borrowed clothes from Allison. (Anything he owns lives at her house; they have an agreement.) Once Klaus forgot to wash off his nail polish before Reginald came home and he broke all of Klaus’ fingers one by one. (Agnes wants to beat him into dust with a rolling pin.) Klaus stays at Diego’s house a lot, though Klaus refuses to come after they break up even though Diego makes it clear that his door will always be open. Five, therefore, is super protective of Klaus - every time he comes over, he’s super respectful when Klaus is in the room and then verbally rips Reginald to shreds as soon as he’s gone. He once stayed over for an impromptu sleepover when he noticed that Klaus was terrified-ly coming up with more and more ridiculous excuses for Five to stay and not leave him alone with Reginald, and as soon as Klaus was asleep, tiptoed around the house to set up bugs and cameras he got from Ben. He gives all of the evidence to Eudora to deliver to the police, who arrest Reginald and leave him to rot in a cement cell for the rest of his sorry fucking life while Klaus goes on to live Happily Ever After because fuck you and your stupid as shit traditionalism and inhumane experiments you lying scheming fuckwad of a psychopathic monster toad.

Hazel is the exhausted English teacher. His secret? He hates every book he teaches. Also he’s been taking bribes from the Handler and Lila because teachers don’t get paid enough in our society. Also his wife Agnes of twenty years divorced him a year ago for the whole bribery situation and he’s been sleeping in his car and using the school’s facilities to appear fine. Yeah, Hazel’s a mess. ANYWAY - Five is the only one who seems to know what’s going on, and Hazel would like to keep it that way. He knows Klaus is a genius with words but doesn’t know how to tell him that, and he knows Diego’s favorite book is Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and has agreed to take that secret to his grave. (What, it’s a good book!) His class is the only place Diego and Klaus dare to interact, and he’s noticed - they often pair up for assignments and take to the floor or beanbags in the corner, often cuddling up and giggling over whatever book or assignment they’ve been sent off to read or do. Hazel also has another hopeless couple he teaches, Lila and Eudora - eventually Hazel starts leaving Lila’s sappy poems about Eudora on Eudora’s desk when she comes in for her own class (separate from Lila’s) because there is no other way those two idiots are getting together, let’s be honest. There’s just too much communication. Mostly Hazel misses his own wife, Agnes - but he’s been out of luck since he cashed it in with the science department, hot cocoa whore that he is.

Cha-Cha is the history teacher, and she has all the sass and dry sarcasm required for that job. She will beat a bitch up for telling her she can’t teach critical race theory, and plays Drunk History and Overly Sarcastic Productions in her class basically every day. She doesn’t believe in tests because if she did she’d have to grade them, and she likes animated kids’ movies and TV shows, especially Paw Patrol and Sofia the First. (Yes, obviously she’s single. She’s also ace-aro, so who the fuck cares.) She takes the Handler and Lila’s bribes because she runs an underground wrestling ring and would like to continue feeding her pitbulls gourmet food. The only kid she’s truly on edge with is Five, who often challenges her in debates - she can’t decide if she’s impressed or enraged about it. Whatever. School’s out, bitches.

Agnes is the art teacher who knows everything about everybody. All of her art is of donuts. (Of course.) She’s a damn good cook, especially of pizza - and donuts. (Naturally.) She always has munchkins available for her students - and donuts! (She always saves the chocolate glazed and jelly ones for Five and Klaus.) She likes to rap explicit beats in her car and play her music so loud it shakes the ground and you can hear it from miles away. (Obnoxious.) So she doesn’t restrict her kids’ projects because that’s not what art is about. (And because it would make her a hypocrite, obviously.) Sure, she divorced Hazel, but hey - she’s living her best life, and eventually he’ll come to his senses and come crawling back to her at three a.m. to badly lipsync a Justin Bieber song about missing her, and she’ll leap out the window into his giant hairy arms and kiss him on his ginormous teddy bear face. Because Agnes, at heart, is a hippy. (And that’s love, bitch.)

Grace is Diego and Eudora’s (and everybody’s!) mom. She goes out for drinks with Agnes on the weekends and to clubs with Pogo every Friday (the librarian/unofficial therapist who acts as her mouthpiece when Diego does something stupid and won’t listen to her advice, the moron). She’s kind to everyone, but takes no one’s bullshit: you hurt her kids, you die. Important Notice: Everybody Is Her Kid. So be kind to everyone, dickwads. Well - except Reginald. And the Handler. Both of whom she bitchslaps for mistreating her precious babies. She then takes in Klaus because Diego loves him, and Ben because Klaus loves him, and Lila because both Diego ad Eudora love him. The only reason she didn’t take in Sissy was because Ray already had her taken care of. She’s a literal angel sent from heaven and we should all be worshipping her like the goddess she is I’m sorry I don’t know when this became Grace Appreciation Day™ but hey I’m here for it and I have no regrets.

[bigfan-fanfic]

High School Musical feels to me like a very gay narrative, and doing a close reading reveals this fact. Long post ahead, with analysis of lyrics and story beats that contribute to a queer reading of the story

Basically, Troy is the repressed gay who hides in the closet, and Gabriella is the outcast nerd who is just discovering the gay, never knowing before then how she doesn't fit in. She talks about how she has been outcast before, because she was different. While in and of itself this is not particularly specific to the queer experience, Gabriella’s journey of becoming comfortable in her skin is prevalent to the story and a queer reading of HSM. Likewise, Troy’s growth in his confidence to do what he wants even though it’s easier and more comfortable to bow to societal pressure is also queer in its telling.

In "Start of Something New,” they both have that realization that this thing they're feeling is so right for them, they feel a belonging. :It feels so right/to be here with you” and “I feel in my heart/the start of something new” seems less to me an anthem for love at first sight and more simply the recognition of this feeling of attraction to someone - and despite Troy and Gabriella being ostensibly cishet, the combination of this song and the use of drama/the arts as a stand in for homosexuality in this reading make it feel as though both are nervous but excited in discovering their queerness - another interesting thing is that each of the love songs in HSM are gender neutral, and thus play the same if sung by two people of the same gender as by a hetero couple.

This moment is a growth for Gabriella’s queer journey - prior to the song, she is nervous and afraid to socialize, but afterwards she is open and excited to discuss with Troy their experience and be friendly. Troy is a little more closed-off, foreshadowing his journey of trying to stay in the closet - he makes a point of saying how this was something he’s never done before and is not a typical part of his character.

They meet later, and Gabriella's a little more confident, although not technically "out" yet - she doesn’t hide her interest in the “singing thing” and though she doesn’t want to be seen as the Freaky Math Girl, she does have no qualms about showing off her intelligence in class. Basically, despite this being a new territory for her, she is more comfortable in her skin. Troy, meanwhile, basically thinks about his gay experience but hides back in the comfortable closet, returning to being a jock’s jock and ridiculing Ryan and Sharpay, the story’s flamboyant representations of the “out” gays.

Ryan and Sharpay are interesting villains, and they read to me as what might be termed the LGBT+ gatekeepers, since we have drama/the arts as our allegorical stand-in for the queer community. Ryan and Sharpay are unapologetically gay, but they are also used to the ostracism they recieve and thus as a reaction, they have become fiercely protective of their safe space - Sharpay’s fear of the musical being taken over here reads as the worry of LGBT spaces being co-opted and appropriated by cishet people and thus returning them to marginalization.

The song "What I've Been Looking For" is a big jazzy pop number for out gays Ryan and Sharpay, further referencing their absolute comfort in who they are. However, when Troy and Gabriella sing it, it's a soft romantic ballad because they're still on the journey to discovery of their queerness. The lyrics are really gay in "thought I was alone/with no one to hold/but you were always there beside me" - the song is about finding a love when you thought you never could, and if that doesn't scream gay I don't know what does. Despite Kelsi’s insistence that Troy and Gabriella’s way is how it is “supposed” to be sung, the song works just as well as a hopeful romantic tune about the future as it does a celebration of finding acceptance of any kind, even platonic. Again there’s a reference to “this feeling like no other” - this song follows up “Start of Something New” as a continuation of the journey to self-acceptance, and speaks of finding comfort in the experience of meeting those like oneself -  “I never had someone/that knows me like you do/they way you do.”

“Get’cha Head in the Game” is here to show the environment Troy lives in - he’s being constantly pressured, and the song is fast paced and imperative. It also provides a contrast in lyric theme, referring to the “head” instead of feelings and heart. Troy’s tonal shift in the middle of the song where he sings about his heart feels like now that he’s had this gay experience and knows this truth about himself, he can’t go back fully into the closet.

The posting of the callback list feels very much to me like Troy and Gabriella being publically outed as queer. When Troy and Gabriella are "outed," there is a reaction of support and others "coming out" in solidarity, but those voices are shouted down by those seeking not to upset the status quo. The song is chaotic and loud, with walls being broken down and students from different groups merging - Chad mentions later in dialogue that the social hierarchy is breaking down. Interestingly enough, despite the general tone of the song being disapproving and admonishing, everybody joins in the dance and shows support, until Sharpay literally shouts everybody down. This kinda feels to me like saying that the majority of people would be accepting and tolerant, except for a minority of vocal voices who dominate the conversation and push their agenda of hatred.

Homophobic Chad manipulates Troy back into the closet to protect the status quo, and a heartbroken Gabriella sings about how she "thought [he was her] fairy tale," and that really says to me like a gay thinking they've found a relationship only to be heartbroken by realizing the person was straight or too closeted to continue on. She “confused [her] feelings with the truth” and thought “[he] felt it too,” but luckily the ensuing fallout of Gabriella and Troy forced apart and into their respective closets makes their straight friends realize their horrible mistake and do their best to repent, becoming “allies” to them.

“Bop To the Top” is just a fun number, again showcasing Ryan and Sharpay as confident in who they are. However, the interesting part is that Ryan and Sharpay’s world is breaking down around them as well, just as it is for the straight people. Sharpay snaps at Zeke because she can’t quite comprehend this guy from the straight side reaching out to befriend someone of the queer set, and her walls go up. In her own way, she’s trying to restore order as well - however instead of forcing Troy and Gabriella apart, she instead tries to make it so they must prove their commitment to one side or the other - making it so that their activities with their friends take place at the same time as the callback - basically a choice between their closets or the queer community, but with the help of their allies, Troy and Gabriella bring everything crashing together - though the straight majority floods the theater, they do so in support of the community she has protected. At this moment, Gabriella and Troy have overcome the external queer-phobia.

And then the big emotional number at the audition, "Breaking Free," really feels gay to me, in that the song is about the world trying to tear this couple apart but with their faith in each other and themselves, they can rise to new heights. The verses each feel like an anthem to a queer experience in fighting against societal pressure and having confidence in who you are. “The world can see us/in a way that’s different than who we are” is about the pressure to conform to gender and sexuality norms, “but your faith, it gives me strength/strength to believe” they can break free and be themselves. In particular the bridge where they sing "more than you/more than me/not a want/but a need" gives me "born this way" vibes and describes the need to be who you are even when others might not understand. And yet, even in all of this, they are supported and tolerated - the audience dances in the seats and claps to the beat and supports them.

And then "We're All In This Together" is of course the fantasy of tolerance and overcoming bigotry within and without the LGBT community, where everyone is singing together in harmony, where there is nothing but acceptance of the differences that make us all special and unique, with the recognition that we are all human.