#puhnnoh

Being an entirely arbitrary and opinionated decision making process of one... me. This is a decade long retrospective. During Award Season I’ll do one specifically for 2020. 

THE WINNERS!

Did You Bring a Towel? - there are more tropey executions of this (the sponge bath and the bridal hair dry in Make it Right come to mind), but when I think about towels in BL it’s always Win yanking the towel off Team that comes to mind, so WinTeam takes this category for Until We Meet Again. 

Proximity Alert - a hard fought category what with Puppy Honey's paint splatter incident but I have to give it to Ae & Pete and the bicycle meet cute because it’s two perfectly executed tropes in one. And because I love them so much. Love By Chance wins. 

Minister to my artful injury? - Pick & Rome in Puppy Honey because they manage to be both caring and silly about it, and it happens multiple times. 

The Fast and the Bicurious - another one I dithered over. In the end I went for Forth & Beam in 2 Moons 2 because it’s so in Forth’s character to scare Beam into dating him, and also I like that they played with the trope in a different way. 

The Heart Knows - I’m giving this to Can in LBC2 because he goes through it the most and takes the longest to realize what’s happening. Poor Can. 

Hair Tousle - okay so Sarawat and Ae do this trope the most, King and few others have very significant moments of head touching, but it’s going to go to Type in TharnType. These two aren’t the hair tousle kind of couple, but this marks the first time Type voluntarily initiates physical contact with Tharn entirely of his own free will. It’s also precipitates my favorite kiss in all BL, so they take the cake on this one. 

The Hand Hold – although Dean & Pharm hold hands the most, and I adore Tee & Fuse on the train, I have to give this trope to Phun & Noh in the bookstore in Love Sick. I doubt any other romance, let alone BL, will come close to the angsty teen pathos of that one moment. 

The Piggyback of Nobility - Korn & Knock in Together with Me. It marks a kind of breakthrough in their relationship and they’re so sweet about it. Plus I like the way the piggyback connects their adult love to their childhood friendship. 

Post-it Love Note - again one that probably should go to Sarawat & Tine but I just can’t with the product placement, plus Pete & Kao in the swing with the post it notes is so flipping precious. So Dark Blue Kiss it is. 

Pinky Promise - has to got to Mes & Thun in He’s Coming to Me partly because of the wistfulness of not being able to touch but still believing in the promise. It’s beautiful. 

Share My Earbuds? - this goes to Sarawat & Tine in 2gether, of course. Who else has the balls to share earbuds and listen to music at someone else’s concert?  

Bath Time! - oh Fighter & Tutor take this one, hands down (innuendo intended). Why R U? for the win. 

Kiss Me In The Car - Ae & Pete get this one in Love By Chance. It’s their first kiss, it starts as an accident, and goes from there. And Ae actually talks about it and tries to explain his feelings. It’s adorable. 

The Cheek Kiss of True Love - oh this one goes to Solo in Oxygen, who kisses Gui super early on in their relationship and as a way of making his intentions perfectly clear. It’s beautifully done. 

Clutch That Pillow - this one goes to Zon in Why R U? who does it multiple different times and in multiple different moods. 

Meet Me in the Library - King & Ram in My Engineer, of course. Dean & Pharm are adorable in their library kissing scene but King’s love at first tattoo is so good. Also (see with proximity alert above) I like when a trope is combined with a meet cute. 

This Pool Was Meant for Kissing - I am sorry to the other contenders, like Fighter & Tutor and Solo & Gui, but this was always going to go to Pete & Kao. Partly because it’s the first time we see Kao kiss Pete (in Kiss Me Again) and also the last time we see him initiate a kiss (in Dark Blue Kiss). I am a big fan of the uke showing sexual agency. 

Let Me Sing You My Feelings - I rightly should give this one to Oxygen since it beats our ears with this trope constantly, but it’s going to Ingredients for Ep 16. The number of emotions that cross Win’s face in the course of two songs while he watches Tops flirt with someone else is INSANE. Win keeps singing yet you see him go through an entire identity crisis - realization of love, jealousy, fear, adoration, loss, and more. It’s brilliant. And Jeff’s voice is crazy good. Even if you aren’t a fan of this series, you owe it to yourself to watch this episode.

In the next episode he sings, plays, and acts all at the same time. So yeah. Sorry everyone else. Win wins. 

I Saw You Feed Him! - Dean & Pharm. DEAN & PHARM. DEANANDPHARM!!! Like there is ANY other choice. Until We Meet Again is basically a love story to Thai desserts... with some reincarnation thrown in. 

Lie on the Ground, Stare Winsomely the One You Love - King & Ram take this category too for My Engineer. What can I say? When it comes to pining, no one does it better. 

Put Your Head On My Shoulder - although Kong & Arthit execute this one very very well it’s going to Phun & Noh because it’s such a signifiant moment for them in Love Sick 2. 

There’s Something About the Way He Swallows - a hotly contested category with every studly seme weighing in from Sarawat to Fighter to Forth. But it has to go to Tharn in TharnType. He basically seduced Type away from heterosexuality by drinking from a water bottle. That’s some seriously powerful swallowing.  

That’s MY BOYFRIEND - there are lots of good public claimings, and it’s one of my favorite tropes, but I’m giving this one to Arthit who does it twice: 

in front of all his friends in SOTUS, 

and then in front of all his co-workers in SOTUS S. 

(Look yes, Can kissing Tin in LBC2 is probably the single most impactful example of this, but Arthit did it first and did it twice, so I have to give it to him.) 

I Touch My Lips and Think of Kissing - I’m giving this one to Saint who does it as Pete and as Tutor, but totally differently each time, because he’s a genius actor. Normally I prefer to award characters, not actors, but for this one I’m making an exception. So Why R U? and Love By Chance take this category. 

Best Thing About a Boyfriend? His Closet! - giving this one to Sarawat & Tine because the matched jersey is such a thing for them. I wanted to give it Phun & Noh because of the uniform plot point in Love Sick, but the visual in 2gether is just too powerful. 

Under My Umbrella - oh it should be Pha & Yo in 2 Moons. It’s such a significant moment in that story and it basically established this trope for Yaoi. Except, then SOTUS comes in and sweeps this category with this gem... 

Baby is a Floppy Drunk - Tine is hands down the best comedic execution of this trope, and Captain gives us the best in character performance as drunk Noh in Love Sick 2, but it plays the most significantly into Tee & Fuse’s story arc so Fuse wins this category for Make it Right. 

K’ that’s it. Which trope did you want to see that I forgot? I’m sure I missed some. 

My 10 favorite MAIN couples in BL:

Dean & Pharm ~ Until We Meet Again

Hsia Yu Hao & Qiu Zi Xuan ~ History 2: Crossing the Line

Puhn & Noh ~ Love Sick

Ae & Pete ~ Love by Chance

Fighter & Tutor ~ Why R U

Tharn & Type ~ TharnType

Pete & Kao ~ Dark Blue Kiss

Thun & Mes ~ He’s Coming To Me

Sarawat & Tine ~ 2gether

Kong & Arthit ~ SOTUS

Solo & Gui look likely to make the ranks, but I reserve judgement until I have a chance to binge rewatch Oxygen. Then I’ll have to decide who to boot. Which is going to be tough. 

BL drama you last finished? 

Love Sick 

On any given day I have probably recently rewatched Love Sick. I tend to have it on hard rotation. 

Although I can’t find the version that includes this kiss. 

Oh well. 

At least the bookstore hand hold is always there.