There Be Stuff

Eloise is aroace. She is lonely, as everyone she cares about is getting married. She is no longer anyone's "person" anymore, because they all found a new person through marriage. In her despair, she wonders if romantic love really is the inevitable cure for loneliness.

But lo and behold. Enter Philip Crane... also aroace. He never wanted to get married, but after his brother got Maria pregnant and died, he had to.

The specifics of how they meet and bond (over books probably) can be determined. But they navigate a friendship and the mounting pressure to marry, while simultaneously feeling bad that they don't have the "correct" feelings for each other.

Philip still can have an arc regarding his abusive dad and learning to be a father. Eloise tries to support him in that, but while she loves the kids, she's not super maternally so she ends up helping him by helping with his work/paper work/office tasks/running business so he can spend more time with his children and actually connect.

They realize eventually they like their arrangement, that they do love each other, but not as others claim. In order to make their lives easier, they do marry, in a very private ceremony. And then continue with their arrangement.

Neither are lonely. Eloise gets to be involved with intellectual pursuits and business. Philip is the primary caretaker of his children, although Eloise does love them too.

Obviously, there'd be more drama, higher stakes, the queen probably gets involved somehow, but that's the gist of what I want.

like some relationships, I almost feel like I'm straight. Like the queer vibes are non existent.

but then others, it's like, okay, we be queer in some indeterminable way. Is it the blurred vibes between romantic and platonic that is almost giving this a queer platonic undertone? Is it the falling in love with a best friend and the fear of ruining the friendship, which is just so queer coded, even though said best friend is straight and cis? Is it the way some partners embrace my queerness, willing to bring it up and make jokes, almost celebrating the queerness within the relationship? Is it because some people are more open and comfortable in their gender so they're less tied to the traditional gender roles?

What people think I mean: I love it when two characters are friends but they're super attracted physically to each other and they're both really hot, so it's difficult just being friends when they aren't able to make out etc and when they finally reveal their feelings we get a super passionate kiss and/or more.

But then I recently started talking to cis people about how they experience gender and many did not fit into the box we have created. There was a wide variety of ways people experience gender within being cis. And that's really cool.

like do I feel a disconnect from other women because I'm not one or is it because some of the women I'm around have bought into a misogynistic narrative that boxes them in?

do I have an issue with being a "girlfriend" in my relationships because it's a weird heteronormative word (like girl as a friend = romance) or is it because I'm not a girl?

am I being an obnoxious and harmful person when I feel like "I am not like other girls" or am I really not a girl?

is the thrum I get from being referred to with they/them pronouns from gender euphoria or is it simply relief at not being seen as a woman first and a person last?

So what I'm hearing is that Benedict would 100% be attracted to a gender fluid person and which means Sophie Beckett could be gender fluid (which could work really well with the double identities in the story line, if done respectfully) and then Bridgerton could explore a whole new facet of being queer beyond just sexuality.