Hisa

It’s truly fascinating to me how loyal Pisaeng is to Kawi.

Ever since Kawi changed something in the past Pisaeng remained unwaveringly loyal to him, regardless of the circumstances.

First return from time travel:

Kawi becomes his best friend and is even appointed to be Pisaeng’s best man on his wedding day.

Kawi’s interaction with Pisaeng for that ONE day made a wild turn in their relationship - he unexpectedly becomes Pisaeng’s best friend. For their situation to drastically change like that with their interaction for just one day, this means that it became a significant moment for Pisaeng. Even looking back at the original storyline Pisaeng unconciously have always had wanted to connect to him.

(1) Pisaeng introduces himself to Kawi and tries to invite him to a group dinner with other peers

(2) Pisaeng immediately revealed he is Kawi’s secret buddy and declared that he’d openly take care of him

Second return from time travel:

Pisaeng, grappling with unrequited love for Kawi, calls off his wedding and confesses his feelings.

I wonder how on earth did Pisaeng manage to be with Pear, planned to marry her, gave up on his wedding day just to confess his love for Kawi. I wish we could see how it went 🤧

In this time travel, they spent more time together trying to hook up Kawi with Pear. Kawi has already confessed that he was actually the real secret buddy of Pear.

During that time, I think that getting the stuffed toy on the toy crane machine was Pisaeng’s turning point of realization of his feelings for Kawi.

For some unfathomable reason, Pisaeng is still bound to marry Pear but is burdened with hidden affection for Kawi. He drunk and got wasted, walked out of his wedding, and finally confesses to Kawi.

Third return from time travel:

Pisaeng remained in love with him despite the fact that Kawi is in a relationship with Pear.

The heartbreaking reality of Pisaeng’s love for Kawi continued for a long time. This enduring affection paints a poignant picture of Pisaeng’s unrequited love.

For eight years, Pisaeng remained patient and is still waiting for Kawi to reciprocate his feelings - even though Kawi got together with Pear and actively avoids to be speculated by the public of his closeness with Pisaeng. Deep down, Pisaeng already knew that Kawi will never like him back but he’s just in denial.

Notice in episode 9 when he said this?

He never entertained the idea of being with Kawi, firmly believing that Kawi would never cross that line.

So for the third time travel, he just wanted to stay by his side, support him, and even willing to be his plan B when things go wrong for Kawi - he’s basically his side chick 🥲 It came to a point when even that was too much for him. He’d eventually stay away from Kawi but still, his love remains. That even from afar he’d still choose to watch and listen to him after every stupid thing Kawi’s done to him.

Pisaeng’s loyalty is

I think it gets the most attention in the last episode when Pisaeng is reliving their amusement park date, this time with better results. The first time he lived it, Kawi was nervous about the physical aspect of their brand new relationship, so he was grumpy and standoffish.

And he wouldn't take Pisaeng's hand.

But the second time, Pisaeng has came back from a future where they've been together for years, but Kawi's sick and Pisaeng is terrified he won't make it. Pisaeng isn't feeling confident at all, so Kawi approaches the whole day differently. And I think part of why is that Kawi enjoys taking care of people.

Even though this future version of Pisaeng is older and far more experienced than the one Kawi's used to, Pisaeng is also vulnerable and afraid, so he has to lean on Kawi for once.

When Kawi takes Pisaeng's hand, it's because Kawi's not only willing to admit he's afraid of the roller coaster, but that he's willing to take risks as long as he has Pisaeng with him.

Tellingly, Pisaeng says he only got through that time-traveling experience with Kawi's strength.

While holding Kawi's hand.

What makes their dynamic so sweet, so real, and so enduring in my heart is that they're meant to be like this for each other. It's not that they're destined to be together, because we see that there are timelines where they barely know each other. But their best selves are a match, and once they start to orbit each other, I think they can sense that they'd work better together than apart.

I think it's why so much of that montage of their life together just shows them hanging out in their apartment.

And why Pisaeng is so convinced he's the only one Kawi could have gotten sick from.

Once they get to know each other, they learn how easily they fit each other, and that's the way they live their lives. And because of how well they're written, it doesn't feel like the story just forced them together, but rather it feels like nothing else would make sense.

There are timelines where they aren't together, but those are the timelines that feel wretched. Where Kawi is alone. Where Pisaeng is living a lie. Where Kawi is repressed. Where Pisaeng is brokenhearted.

But back to handholding.

What I love most about it as a motif is that it doesn't just represent overcoming fear.

For Kawi and Pisaeng, handholding is part of their shared language.

For them, handholding is comfort.

(I had to include video for this because Pisaeng is literally trying to hold his hand twice. Kawi is holding his left hand, so Pisaeng moves his right hand and tucks his fingers around Kawi's.

My reading is that Pisaeng can't hold Kawi yet, so he's trying to get as close to him as he possibly can in any creative way he can.)

For them, handholding is reassurance.

For them, handholding is affirmation.

For them, handholding is intimacy.

For them, handholding is affection.

For them, handholding is friendship.

And for them, handholding is, of course, love.

Every time they hold hands in this series, it means something slightly different, and the fact that Waa took something so common in relationships and made it so meaningful is just another reason why this series absolutely captivates me.

It's not just that Kawi and Pisaeng love each other; it's that they became who they needed to be to fit the best version of each other.

What makes their dynamic and chemistry work so well is that when Kawi's being unreasonable, Pisaeng's more than equal to giving that same energy back.

When Kawi puts him in awkward situations, Pisaeng has no compunctions about taking him down a peg.

And sometimes Pisaeng's just a brat for the sheer joy of brattiness!

Also, like, reflect with me upon the sheer audacity of this man.

Kawi finally asks him out, TEARS IN HIS EYES, ON HIS FACE, COMPLETELY SINCERE AND EARNEST AND LOOKING UP AT PISAENG LIKE A HOPEFUL PUPPY, and Pisaeng's first thought is, "wouldn't it be funny if I said no lmao"

BECAUSE IT IS. IT IS FUNNY.

POOR KAWI BUT IT IS VERY FUNNY.

And the brat parade doesn't stop once they start dating!!!

Pisaeng just gets better at it.

Pretending Kawi's suitcase is a thousand tons,

Unrepentantly hogging the blanket,

Tickling Kawi's face with his tie,

Tickling Kawi to within an inch of his life for lording his video game victory over him,

And my absolute favorite of them all:

Kawi, content with his life and his partner and absolutely at peace with his world, casually asks Pisaeng if he'd use the crystal ball again if he could.

AND THIS BITCH SAYS YES AND GIVES KAWI SEVERAL SECONDS OF PARALYZING ANXIETY AND A DOZEN WAKING NIGHTMARES.

ONLY FOR PISAENG TO SAY THE SWEETEST THING HE CAN THINK OF.

And, y'know, all of that gets a green light, because brattiness is just the way they keep each other on their toes and make their life together more fun.

At the end of the day, they're just two brats in love.

they're friends before they're a ship. every interactions we saw needs to be taken with a grain of salt, and there's a possibility of a really close platonic ship happening, something closer even than the romantic ones.

some interactions between our ships are not 100% organic and pure, some are mere fanservices. yes, some of them are not scripted and actually their real interactions without minding the fans, but it's only a part of all of their interactions.

touch some grass. have hobbies outside of ships. have things to look forward to besides the drama and the ships. it happened to me long ago and it really got better after i stepped out of the fandom and shipping environtment for a while.

reevaluate your ship's value every once in a while. look if it's almost as important as your breath. look if it has value higher than other things that is actually important. if it gets to their level, step down. step back. breathe, inhale, exhale. just as mew wanted us to make him as a hobby, i think it should also applies to bl dramas and ship.

Description: A pairing made up of two completely different people that embrace their differences and fall in love.

Ideas:

Disliking each other as a default because of social status/a certain event that separates them.

Person B doing things that inadvertently hurt person A and regretting it as they get closer.

An inciting event that shows a similarity between them, even if it's small, and allows for a significant change.

Person A's friend group trying to protect them from person B.

They become friends anyway, which shocks everyone to their core.

Bickering but everyone sees it as flirting.

Talking about each other to their friends. Person A trying to convince their friend group that person B is a good person. Person B telling his friends how cool person A is despite them being completely different from their friend group.

Balancing each other out and doing things to make each other better.

Person B pretending to be all cool and confident but melts every time person A smiles

Person A never thinking they have a chance and is oblivious to how much person B loved them

They assume things about the other person that turn out to be completely wrong as they slowly get to know each other.

An argument that leads to a confession or a soft moment.

"I never wanted to hurt you, this is just a big misunderstanding and I'm sorry." "You never apologize." "Well this is important, so I am now."

Over time they acquire traits of each other's personalities

Casual displays of affection

Secret Heart eyes heart eyes heart eyes

Both being too stubborn to admit their feelings

When they finally do it's shocking at first for both of them but they soon realize how obvious it was

Gushing about how much they liked each other and didn't want to admit it

"Every time you looked at me I wanted to cry you were so cute!" "I thought you were glaring at me when I caught you looking?" "I got scared when you noticed so I decided to look mean instead!"

"You're so frustrating! Why am I even friends with you?" "Because you love me." "Yeah? So what! Wait- I didn't mean that-" "Yes you did." "FINE yes I did." "For the record, I love you too."

Both having a special place or object that they associate with each other (maybe the first place they connected, or an object that they bonded over).

Going on adventures together and helping each other grow even after they get together.

Tips:

Make the differences very significant. I'll list a few examples here.

^difference in social class/economic class

^mean manly jock/shy sensitive nerd (but be careful with this! It can be cliche so make sure to put your own twist on it! My example ship does a great job of this)

^Uptight/easy going

^impulsive, hyperactive / cautious, rational

^ordinary person / someone extraordinary (a hero, maybe)

^very serious, hardworking / always making jokes (alternatively, all work / all play)

Make sure their relationship isn't automatically perfect. They're very different people, so there should be some bumps to overcome.

Give them some arguments! They're not going to agree on everything, so even if they care about each other they're going to fight. Let those fights be raw and emotional and significant.

A fight should be something they both care deeply or feel very strong about, not just a small difference between them. (Ex: a difference in values, or a big communication error)

Take your time with this one, allow their relationship to gradually change from annoyed at each other to friends to liking each other to romance.

Example of this trope:

Tyrus (TJxCyrus, Andi Mack): This pairing starts out as destined enemies in the beginning of season two, with TJ being the scary basketball jock that bullies shy eccentric nerd Cyrus' best friend Buffy. But the two quickly connect as Cyrus brings down TJ's walls and make him want to be a better person and TJ pushes Cyrus out of his very small comfort zone. They turn into best friends and after the manipulative girl Kira is out of the picture, they confess their feelings and get together in the last episode of the show.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" ~Cyrus

"Yeah... Is there anything you wanna tell me?" ~TJ

"Yes." ~Cyrus.

The couple hold hands and give each other a relieved laugh.

(Disclaimer: some of these may be non canon romances but all have heavy subtext or a form of confirmation by the author/creators)