I've been thinking a little extra about that brief time period after they both came out and Dan went through what I can only describe as his "teenage boy who wants everyone to think he has loads of sex with loads of people and blows loads in lots of places" phase. And how that was really probably just his way of coping with the fact that they were, at that point, already out as a couple. Because like they said in the video, what else was anyone supposed to assume? It was exactly what it looked like and there was really no getting around that. The cat was out of the bag the moment he posted BIG, and everyone was just pretending not to notice the loose cat running around because it still seemed pretty important to him that we do not acknowledge the empty bag and the loose cat. And it's just been really nice to see him progress from "if anyone needs me I'll be in MY bedroom getting slapped around by someone's dad, my completely platonic friend Phil will entertain you in the meantime" to being on the gaming channel visibly itchy at how vague he had to be about it all, to now actually just being completely unashamed to use the word boyfriend out loud and make breakup jokes on Twitter. I just love looking back on old moments where we thought this is the most open and vulnerable and honest they're ever going to be with us, and realizing even then, they were kind of still lying to protect themselves.
oh what an amazing take. thank you. it really makes you think about the way they opened themselves and their lives up in layers over the years. and how, probably unintentionally at first but later intentionally, by doing so, they were wresting control of the narrative from the public sheerly by sticking to their guns about what they said about their relationship despite the natural assumptions people were making. because assumptions will remain assumptions as long as they never say anything outright - and the disinterested public will grow bored of and abandon baseless gossip over time, and the real ones will remain out of pure love of them and their work. even if people "knew", nobody really knew. but this is more of a retrospective point of view because, as you said, at the time it was probably still a way of protecting themselves rather than a super intentional concerted effort to "win" at the game of navigating creator-consumer relationships.
but they ended up winning regardless ❤️
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