i would like to talk about Another queer zack martin ship i have and that would be zack x bailey (hear me out.)
so going all the way back to the start of the show, when bailey is undercover as a boy, she rooms with zack! and of course, he inevitably finds out- but he keeps it a secret, remember?
'please tell me the explanation is that you're a girl, because- strangely attracted to you right now.'
'don't worry. it'll be our little secret.'
'we figured, opposites attract.'
'here, lemme show you how to do it.'
now, i will wholeheartedly admit that i prefer zack over cody- and cody and bailey's relationship was never that interesting to me. but zack and bailey seems like an inherently queer pairing. regardless of whether zack is actually queer, had bailey maintained her cover for longer, they would've been seen as queer by others. and sure, back when suite life on deck had just started airing, there were definitely some bigoted jokes made. but giving zack the benefit of the doubt (especially knowing how well dylan got along with the rest of the cast/how sweet he was and how beloved he was in return), i can absolutely see him being completely fine with people thinking he's queer.
however. this post isn't talking about a cishet relationship that is misinterpreted as queer.
it is truly mind blowing to me that nobody seems to headcanon bailey as transmasc.
they gave us the perfect set up for it- a 'girl' from a small town in the middle of nowhere (likely conservative) sneaks past his parents and secretly registers as a boy. it's canon that bailey partook in boys' sports and, while she is undeniably feminine throughout the show (and in no way am i attempting to make her out to be canonically transmasc- she was such a girlboss icon for me growing up), she does also have closer interests to the boys.
at the end of the day, there isn't really any backing i have as to why i see her as transmasc in my headcanons, it's really just that she is in such a perfect position for the headcanon to fit in closely with canon. think haruhi fujioka from ouran highschool host club- same deal.
what i love about this headcanon specifically is that it can be used in so many different ways- does bailey already know he identifies more masculinely by the start of the show, and is that why he signed up for the boys' dorms? or was it truly just a ruse at first, until he slowly comes to the realisation that it felt less like putting a mask on but rather taking it off?
what if zack gives bailey his first, utterly terrible haircut? even if you go with the route of bailey still thinking he's just pretending to be a guy, he'd have to get a haircut at some point to keep it believable, right?
and i just know that london would be funding things like binders once she finds out. maybe zack would go to london, ask for some money, and when she refuses, he tells her what it's for- but not who it's for? london thinking zack is trans and thinking nothing of it would eventually give bailey the courage to tell her the truth. sure, she’s a little selfish- but if anything, it’d benefit her too. as long as she helps ensure bailey passes as a boy, she’d get to keep her room to herself! even canonically i always figured london would help fund bailey’s ‘disguise’ if she found out.
and zack, my sweet boy. zack has always, always been mlm to me- with the whole max situation and everything, he's just never had a straight bone in his body. he can be gay, mspec, any form of mlm would work with this headcanon. he's already seen as a delinquent, definitely has adhd or another form of neurodiversity- he'd take being openly queer in stride. or maybe bailey's already terrified of being outed as trans, he doesn't want to risk raising suspicion by being seen as mlm either? or they start dating while bailey still thinks he identifies as a girl, and sees the way cody reacts to them and decides to pretend they aren't dating to protect zack?
i could ramble on and on about how dear my beloved ship is to me. queer boarding school ships will always hit different.
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
