#dev deshpande

When Dev Deshpande, a queer person and only child, tells Charlie, who came from a large family and is new to queerness and the queer community, that he wants to get married and have kids and he says it like it’s the worst thing he could admit, like it’s reason for Charlie to get up and leave, I felt that so deeply in my core, and never felt more seen by something. Dev comes from a family where he realized at a very young age, when his parents are gone he will be alone. He will have no family in a few decades time. No one will love him, no one will wait up for him, no one will worry about him unless he makes his own family. Charlie has never had to think about that. Even if he’s on bad terms with his family, he has a massive one if ever wants to go back. And Dev is queer. He’s gay. He’s out. He’s been in the gay community for many years. A community where, I’m speaking from experience, many, maybe most, people look down on you for wanting a family, wanting to be monogamous and married, wanting a quiet “heteronormative” family life. To Dev, he ‘knows’ these great character failings make him unlovable. To Charlie, Dev is just, a normal guy. Charlie doesn’t care, he wants a life with Dev no matter what that life looks like. And it’s exactly what Dev deserves, is someone who sees his dreams as normal and unexciting.