These trying times of crisis and universal brouhaha.

Andrew · 30s · England · They/Them · ADHD · Queer Profile picture: Moulin Rouge, Paris Banner image: Palace of Westminster, London, seen from London Eye

[mino2aur]

[belleandkurtbastian]

Queer Focus

Fandom: Heartstopper (TV) (minor allusions to Solitaire and Nick & Charlie)

Characters: Imogen Heaney & Nick Nelson (mentions and references to their current and past partners and romantic interests, including Sahar, Ben, Charlie, and Tara)

Summary:

Oneshot introspection/character study on Nick and Imogen and their relationships to queerness. Literally. Also a little bit of their bestie-ism. Based on TV canon, but at least some events from Solitaire happened. The details aren't that important, all you really need to know is that Ben is an important character in Solitaire and is still a terrible person.

Nick picks up the phone and doesn't even have time to think about greeting his friend before she's talking.

"Did you see that Ryan Stevens came out? He posted about it."

Read it on AO3

[wrenhavenriver]

the cat was sleeping cutely so i took a picture and went to show it to my mom and she burst out laughing and pulled out her phone and showed me a near identical one she'd taken a few minutes before

[wrenhavenriver]

self-proclaimed free thinkers when the cat is doing a snooze:

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

no one is too young to write fanfics and no one is too old to write fanfics!!!!!!!

anybody can create, make art and have fun. age is irrelevant when it comes to making art and having fun

[belleandkurtbastian]

I really like how the TV adaptation leans into the Nick/Tara friendship. I wish it were MORE present than it is to be honest, but I like how that friendship and history is a through line for the show.

In fact, in general, I think the show did a good job of showing the different subgroups and individual relationships of the squad in a way that was more challenging in the comic.

Obviously there's the art room group: Charlie, Tao, Elle and Isaac(/Aled)

And there's the Darcy/Tara/Elle trio

Charlie/Tao alone is an important core relationship of course.

Nick/Tara as I said

Nick/Elle are an interesting pair where they don't directly interact as much but when they do it's to give the other a push in the right direction

Which is actually sort of a similar vibe to Nick/Tao...

Actually the more I think about it, I think what the show did more than anything was give NICK much more direct connections to different people. Nick/Imogen is wholly a creation of the show. Even Nick/Christian/Sai/Otis are marginally more present as a group in the show (esp S2-3) than the book.

I guess the goal was to make sure it didn't feel like this was "Charlie's friend group".

[belleandkurtbastian]

So the show sort of... elides the detail about Truham and Higgs being mixed-gender for sixth form.

It's still IN the show, because Michael has a Higgs uniform, but we don't even really get the throwaway 'I forgot girls could come to Truham for sixth form' line we get in the comic, and it's sort of EXTREMELY peripheral in the show to the point that it almost feels like a continuity error when it happens.

[belleandkurtbastian]

Nick "I'm exclusively attracted to gay people" Nelson send tweet.

[belleandkurtbastian]

I already made a post about Nick not meeting Charlie and thus realising he's bi when he did, and that now has me thinking about Nick/Imogen in a comphet relationship.

And for Imogen it's part of the pattern of her dating history that is canon to the show... But because Nick doesn't have Charlie, and he is still Nick... there's no real reason for either of them to break it off early even if neither of them are actually that into the relationship, because it's stable and they DO love each other, just... it's quite clearly platonic and Imogen eventually has to figure out WHY that is for her.

Meanwhile for Nick, it's less clear-cut because... He IS attracted to women. It's entirely plausible that he does have some kind of feelings for Imogen and he can't unpick where that line is between platonic/romantic/sexual...

I... think that in this context, IMOGEN might actually have to be the one to figure out that she's gay first. And in a world where the Paris Squad just are not a thing, I don't know where she goes from there.

But also, Nick meeting a queer guy and hitting it off, but he doesn't realise that's what's happening. It could be Charlie... It could be Michael... It could be someone entirely new... But the point is, Nick's in (what he thinks is) this stable relationship with Imogen, and he's not going to cheat on his girlfriend, so he shuts down any chance of realisation until after Imogen goes first.

[schmergo]

Yesterday, I was at dinner with some friends and briefly forgot Harrison Ford’s name, but I was like, “His name is a president and a car,” which is how we got such acceptable alternatives as McKinley Camry, Van Buren Gremlin, Clinton Infinity, and Range Rover Cleveland.

[caesarsaladinn]

Lincoln Lincoln

[belleandkurtbastian]

I think one of the things I've always appreciated about Heartstopper is the way that it is just a direct 'fuck you' to its own critics.

Like, there has always been a degree to which people have critiqued (first) the comic and (later) the series for being 'unrealistic' for having so many queer characters.

To which: first of all, my friend group in sixth form was almost entirely queer. There was a moment we were hanging out in the sixth form common room, and there were something like 11 of us there and I had a moment of realisation that not a single person in that room was cishet. And I was in the same school year as Alice, so this isn't even a case of "Gen Z/Alpha are just like that".

But secondly: that criticism has never been something Alice has let get them down. Oh, you think it's unrealistic that Charlie's friend group has two lesbians, a gay guy, a bi guy, a straight trans girl, and an aspec guy (gay/demisexual in the comic; aro/ace in the show)? Well, now one of those lesbians is non-binary, they add another bisexual girl to the group (and another lesbian in the show), and Charlie's sister is ace and in a qpr with a pan guy. Die mad about it.

[belleandkurtbastian]

There's an alternate universe where Nick DOESN'T realise he's bi until quite a bit later... but still ends up falling in with a mostly-queer friend group during sixth form, and is your standard 'over-invested ally' trope.

Like, just generally, Nick is really good at reading the people he cares about. Some non-Charlie examples:

every Nick/Tara interaction

several Nick/Tao 'quiet' moments like the talk on the bed in Paris and the talk at prom in 2x08

the Nick/Elle moment in the Louvre

the scene in 3x03 where Isaac starts talking about aromantic fish and Nick picks up the subtext IMMEDIATELY

And he's the kind of person who once he's decided you're part of his inner circle, he will go to battle for you any day.

I think even if he hadn't met Charlie when he did, he would have found the strength to cut Harry and Ben out of his friend group in the near-ish future.

There's a realm where Nick's first interactions with people he knows are queer are when Tara and Darcy come out publicly and he feels drawn to them, to let them know he sees them and supports them. Or where he meets Michael before he meets Charlie, and clocks him. Or where he ends up sticking up for Charlie or James or Alfie when they're facing a hard time from other people.

I don't think there's a version of this where the person who starts this process for him is Isaac or Tori though, because I just don't think that someone being aro or ace is something that he would be able to clock before realising he's queer himself.

While I'm on the subject: I've had this loose idea of Nick as non-binary for several years now. I just think that Nick's entire story has a very strong tension between who he is as a person and what he thinks a 'man' is. It's a tension that is core to his character, and is reflected in his relationships with David and Stéphane and with rugby as a whole and his rugby friends.

I was going to explore this in a fic I never ended up finishing, about Nick's anxieties about having to come out as bi all over again at university bleeding into him having other realisations, but the canon stories have since moved on and I now think there's a world where this is a conversation he ends up having with Darcy.

[belleandkurtbastian]

Isaac: "What about the fish who don't fall in love with any gender? Do you think they're okay being alone?"

Nick: "I don't think they're on their own. They've got loads of friends."

I always forget just HOW quickly Nick replies here. Like, Isaac wasn't being particularly subtle, of course, but Nick picks up on what he means IMMEDIATELY.

[belleandkurtbastian]

So, there are some specific details of Heartstopper, the comic, that led to me realising that Alice and I are basically the same age, BEFORE I ever looked that up.

But being the same age as Alice and also British, on this rewatch of the show I finally put together a thought that I hadn't fully processed until now.

... I wonder to what degree both The Story of Tracy Beaker (2002-05) and My Mad Fat Diary (2013-15) were influences on the visual style of Heartstopper (2022-26).

That specific mixed-media, animated doodles over the live-action scenes style is a hallmark of those shows.

Tracy Beaker is much less direct, as the animation is generally more 'complete' and story-telling rather than intensifying emotional moments...

But the specific ways that My Mad Fat Diary uses that visual style are VERY similar to Heartstopper.

And also, to some extent, MMFD and Heartstopper both have significant thematic overlap in their treatment of both mental health and teenage sexuality.

[contextfreepatentart]

[nonaferatu]

This would have had me crucified on tumblr 10 years ago but maybe we are ready for this conversation now:

If you are a socially anxious person, you have to socialize. Your panic/anxiety attacks will only get worse and trigger more frequently if you constantly avoid contact with The Public. Not saying that you need to be a social butterfly- but there is a genuine problem with not being able to order your own meal at a restaurant. And it cannot be solved by always having someone else do it for you.

This is a PSA to about 3/4s of the Portland Youth populace

[nonaferatu]

everyone who reblogs this and is like "I ordered my own tea this week" or "I only barfed once when I had to give a presentation'- you are doing amazing sweetie. Have patience with yourself, you are relearning a skill so difficult that people get 4 year degrees to do it professionally.

[scartafacci]

[spin-the-wheel-polls]

You have just lost use of this random kitchen item/ implement how screwed are you in terms of cooking?

https://wheelofnames.com/ry4-3s4

The wheel is completed but if you the mod want to change it at all feel free and I couldn't figure out how to get the link to work properly even un-anoned.

Thanks, have a nice day and drink some water

You have just lost use of this random kitchen item/implement!

how screwed are you in terms of cooking?

I'm not screwed at all surprisingly!

I'm fine because I never use this

It'll be annoying but I'm fine

I'M SO SCREWED. SO SCREWED.

results/other

Remaining time: 2 days 23 hours