The World in the Walls such a key Quentin Coldwater Understanding episode:
his crushes are both sexually menacing him; he does not "desire" "things." (he also imagines Eliot offering him sex in exchange for drugs which was not an intentional pull in my fanfiction where this was mentioned a bunch (parenthetical parenthetical: ?) but well, folks...I don't have anything to add.)
Eliot and Alice also dance up on each other during Shake it Off. Quentin put his Barbies together in his mind. kiss kiss...
the fusion of Brakebills/Mental Hospital/Mental Hospital in a Bad Movie. It's unclear to what level Julia constructed the illusion but being institutionalized/being mentally ill is his prison in his mind. he imagines everyone else there being Really Crazy, opting listlessly into group therapy, which I think is really him projecting bad things he feels about himself.
the one thing he cannot stand imagining, the thing that makes him give up and believe he's lost it and dissociate seemingly for days from his perspective, is hurting someone because he got disconnected from reality, specifically hurting his dad. from the jump when he starts trying to say this isn't real etc., he goes to, "I told you I didn't have thoughts of hurting myself or others." the "or others" part is The Line to him that remains to be crossed, which for most people it would be, but it seems to really, really weigh on him.
in the video showing that He Is Crazy he doesn't seem to use real tuts when attempting to show his magic and then it ends on him screaming hysterically about needing to save everyone. just presenting this one without comment I guess.
the moment of "That hurt. Do it again, harder." is obviously a sexy loaded homoerotic moment, but I also read it as a statement about Quentin having interesting sensory stuff going on. sensation/pain to root him in his body in the illusion.
