Hi love. I haven’t actually seen their posts, I’m not in the HR fandom, and I don’t like calling people out for having different opinions. But I did want to answer you.
I think RPF shipping is a touchy subject because it can quickly veer away from “I think they’d be so cute together,” into “they are absolutely together and I will read into every detail and make it fit my narrative no matter what.”
The thing that has always made Larry feel very different for me is that between 2010 and 2015 it’s how very clearly Harry and Louis were fighting their closets and wanting fans to notice. It was just OBVIOUS. There is so much documented history that it boggles my mind that anyone can deny that there was something going on between the two of them that was absolutely not platonic.
They made it so obvious that they wanted and, I believe, needed to know that they had support, that someone saw them, that we accepted who they really were beyond the manufactured personas. All of that meant we were fighting alongside them for their freedom. It was never just a ship.
I think it’s very hard to join a fandom five or ten years after those the heyday and really grasp what that was like to be in the middle of it. Trying to explain what the rainbows bears were like, trying to make coded clothing or coordinated tattoos make sense to someone who hasn’t watched it unfold in real time makes you sound parasocial and insane. I get that. But that doesn’t mean those things didn’t happen.
It’s the extreme breadth of evidence that exists. It’s not just, “oh, they have great chemistry” or “they were flirty with each other” or “they left a party together.” It’s hundreds and hundreds of little things that have no heterosexual explanation. Hundreds and hundreds of little things that if Harry and Louis were a heterosexual couple, I guarantee you, no one would question that they were together.
So, when ex-larries try to recreate that somewhere else, I have yet to see it be anything even close.
Find joy in other fandoms. That’s awesome. But I’m sorry, saying Harry and Louis/Larry are not impactful or have no relevance, is just a wild stance to take.
