...it was the gay serum, Foyle!

You know what? Dean Stockwell was 80 last month and I totally missed it. So in the spirit of celebrating-those-who-are-with-us, here’s a belated gifset of decades of awesome. 

10 frames

Definitely fake boyfriends. Give me all the fake boyfriends, girlfriends, fiances, spouses - this is one of my very favourite tropes because it pulls in a whole host of other things I love:

- shenanigans. Okay, there are canons where it’s going to be a matter of life and death that the two leads convince other people they’re a couple, but for most of the canons I’m into it’s much more likely to be a low-stakes rom-com/procedural plot. They’re on a case. They’re at an ex’s wedding. Whatever it is, it instantly brings in a plot to bolt on scenes of the leads improvising their backstory and their interactions as a couple.- characters being bad at feelings. I like people taking a while to realise they’re more than friends/work partners/enemies with the other half of their ship. Especially if they’re an unreliable POV character and the readers are ahead of them on this.- forced proximity. It’s the unreliable POV thing again. Ugh, I have to hold hands with this jerk, disgusting, I’m not enjoying this at all.- mild angst about unrequited love. Oh no, I love B now! But they could never possibly love me back! But they’re such a good actor and if this was real wouldn’t it be so nice but it can never be…- pining. Loving someone from afar is one thing; loving them while having to convincingly pretend to be dating them is next level pining, especially if A makes a declaration, B seems to reciprocate, but it was still all part of the act. (The episode of Frasier that does this with Niles and Daphne’s been a favourite for years.)