ceefiro

However, while capturing the personhood of queer people; Danmei also captures the queerness of people because none of these stories would work if the characters weren’t gay/queer

Wei Wuxian’s absolute buffoonery of misunderstanding Lan Zhan’s feelings in a decade long telephone game in which neither of them open their damn mouth would never work in a non-queer story because between a man and a woman romance would be the natural assumption of everyone around them and therefore wouldn’t leave space for confusion. The misunderstanding of their romance is so closely tied to the plot succession that the plot would be… non existent without it

In TGCF Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s absolute aspirational love is literally in the backseat and front seat of the story. Not too different from a classic hero’s journey but instead of the hero being one person, it’s two people. They are so intertwined with eo that they become one character and witness a lot of the story together. Witness being a very interesting word choice. Their queerness doesn’t drive the story but replacing one of them with a woman would dampen the effect— it’d remove the uncertainty, the confusion from everyone around them, the genuine slow burn of the romance. There’s also this idea of Hua Cheng falling in love with Xie Lian so far separated from concepts such as gender or whatever which wouldn’t have been hammered home in a straight romance where those conversations aren’t always had between the audience and the story

And Erha.. well obviously. Half of Chu Wanning’s “this is so inappropriate” spiral wouldn’t exist if he was a woman. And, the idea of Mo Ran being a “cut sleeve” builds up the under current of his character being so far dismissed by society because he’s seen as immoral. Which just wouldn’t serve to the same effect if he was into exclusively women because so was every other character.

Bingge who suffers from temporary blindness is taken in by a kind man who takes care of him while he recovers. Bingge who spends over a month being so completely helpless and at someone else's mercy but so gently cared for he wants to cry.

Bingge who becomes increasingly frustrated and rude because he simply cannot stand being so utterly useless. Bingge who receives unconditional care and affection regardless even though they might come with a scolding and light smack by a fan.

Bingge who craves those smacks if only for the head pats that come after. Bingge whose pride is utterly shattered by the end but something more precious comes in its place.

Bingge who learns that he doesn't need to be useful to be loved.

@matcha-matics I went a little crazy w your prompt

Shen Jiu my beloved😌💚✨️

“Shizun,” said Luo Binghe, “Shizun, your Binghe is home.”