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@in-otherlands
decided to reread Wings in the Morning before finishing up my current relisten of In Other Lands. and oh my god luke and elliot are BOTH checking each other out in the firelight while serene talks boringly about her true love. you guyssssssss
brain buzzing. who would've gotten elliot if he had waited even longer to come back to border camp
Oh my god I read a fic about this like ten minutes ago hold on
Found it!!!!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/26692585
Itās so sweet and good and I cannot recommend it enough
so obviously whenever elliot thinks to himself āi have no friends except sereneā the immediate reaction is to go what about LUKE???
but also like damn rip myra peter swift louise dale (lol) and commander woodsinger i guess. like itās true that none of them have as deep a connection with elliot as serene does, but theyāre still there for him in their own ways.
elliot has this idea that if he can find his One True Love (be picked first, be the best love, however you want to put it) then heāll finally be okay, but i really want him to do some thinking about community. One Love will not fix you. but lots of little, weird, different loves might help hold you up.
this is something i donāt think he ever addresses head-on in iol, but itās threaded throughout. (i think that actually accepting lukeās feelings is a great step towards this.) and i hope itās something he can realize + learn to cultivate as he gets older
āignore the physics of how Elliot probably could not possibly lean half in, half out of one worldā though he would absolutely test and see if it was possibleā and just enjoy the āØāØsymbolismāØāØ of the concept
Elliot: Iām going to marry Serene someday
Luke: what an odd thing to say, weāre only 13, itās not that serious
Luke, later, writing a letter home: dear mom and dad this week I met the most amazing boy at camp heās so mean to me all the time he teaches me loads about other cultures he made me read this book ig heās the reason Iām doing so well in history class I donāt understand any of his jokes and he can never tell when Iām kidding he gave me a pen yesterday and Iām keeping it he never wants to go to my trigon games we hang out constantly. Heās my best friend tied with Serene! Cant wait for you to meet him at parents day!!
rereading in other lands. love that a single page after Elliot grumps over all the boys flocking to Serene at the lake and offering to teach her how to swim as a flirting method, Luke approaches Elliot and offers to teach him how to swim. surely this will go nowhere and mean nothing.
WHICH COULD MEAN NOTHING
āI know his name, they said it at roll callā Luke Sunborn says the day after meeting Elliot Schafer. LUKE āSTILL DOES NOT KNOW MOST OF HIS CLASSMATES NAMES BY SENIOR YEARā SUNBORN. āI know his name, they said it at roll callā
Boy was down bad from day ONE
Okay but iol gang when do we actually think Luke realized he had feelings for Elliot? Bc I used to say by the 2nd summer, but like, during summer NUMBER ONE Luke spends an entire day in the library letting Elliot explain a book to him, and then insists that Elliot just happened upon the only interesting book in the whole libraryā¦ and SURELY, at some point after that you must realize itās the boy youāre interested in and not the historical tome about mermaids. SURELY.
How dumb is this boy?
He knew sometime in 1st year when they were 13
Didnāt realize he had a crush until they were 14
Figured it out around the time he got jealous of Elliot and Serene (age 15)
Figured it out during the play arc (age 16)
Wings in the morning purist (boooo)
He may not know to this day (they are engaged)
can we talk about Luke being so into Elliot he memorizes things Elliot says and quotes them verbatim? And Elliot just convinced this boy is not his friend let alone obsessed with his every word
Elliot, throwing his head into Luke's lap: Tell me I'm pretty!
Luke, lovingly stroking his hair: You're pretty fucking annoying, that's what you are.
I love how Elliot is like āLuke is so superficial and haughty he doesnāt remember anyoneās namesā like Elliot please Elliot give the poor boy a break he literally only has enough space in his head for you, serene, and some of his family members heās trying his best
OK so I was thinking that when Luke confronts Adam about what happened between him and Elliot, based on what SRB said in the Tumblr answer, there is no hard evidence that Adam admitted to what exactly went down between he and Elliot. We know that Luke punched Adam because he insulted Elliot and teased him for his crush on Elliot (which he was still in denial about). After all if Luke did actually get the full story he would know that Elliots revulsion came from Adam disrespecting his boundaries and not homophobia and so he wouldn't have been so hesitant to come out to him.
Also based on his reaction to Elliot telling him his first kiss can be whatever he wants it to be and not when it was forced on him. Luke admits in his cabin that he interpreted it as an invitation, he also doesn't seem to grasp that Elliot meant this as coming from a sympathetic place. I don't think he would have misread it if he had context. I think once Elliot came out to him as bisexual it may have clued him in on Elliots anger towards Adam as more legitimate but I still don't think he knew what actually went down.
I also think Luke would not have felt as ashamed about punching Adam if he knew just how inappropriate he had been towards Elliot.
Like if they are all talking one day about first kisses and Luke grumpily brings up Adara and Elliot says that didn't have to count and Luke says that it technically does and Elliot says that by that reasoning his prick cousin was Elliots first kiss instead of Serene and he refuses to give Adam that honor and Lukes like
Luke: HE KISSED YOU?!
Elliot: I know that the Borderlands have limited information on consent but what part of my saying Adam sexually harassed me confused you? š
Queue Luke wishing he'd punched Adam even harder
Elliot: I'm tired. Luke: You slept for three hours last night, why are you surprised?! Elliot: I'm not surprised, I just want to complain about it.
I love how Luke and Serene showed Elliot a self defense maneuver and Elliot acts like he doesn't even care enough to even look up from his book, then later he proceeds to execute it perfectly on Jace IN BED. Elliot Schafer is a pacifist in the streets but a warrior in the sheets
so real and true.
still thinking about how elliot & luke are both entirely convinced the whole world is in love with their boyfriend. and also are both entirely right. elliot is funny & attractive & interesting & flirtatious & smart & a hero. luke is ALSO funny & attractive & interesting & smart & a hero. like those are the two most desirable men in the border camp tbh like they both catch your eye immediately and take up every room they walk into. and the best part is both of them think they personally are unloveable and nobody would ever want to date them because theyāre not as cool as the other. dorks
I love in other lands bc like, every example of Elliot and Luke interacting is like a study in how to make the miscommunication trope believable and genuinely enjoyable in a story.
Like Elliot tells Luke gleefully that Dale Wavechaser fell out of a tree when he saw Luke shirtless in an effort to cheer Luke up. Only for Luke to get offended at the idea that Elliot would think people falling out of trees and getting hurt would make him happy, and it is the perfect example of the miscommunication trope working to actually improve a book.
Elliot and Lukeās miscommunications are always āthing said with good intentions (or at least earnest emotion)ā ā> āhurt response based on both neurodivergence and the fundamental belief that the other person is always assuming the worst of themā
Meanwhile the reader is aware the whole time of how much they love, respect, and want the best for each other
