there was this very fascinating post abt enemies to lovers i was reading the other day that was abt how its a fantasy abt the intimacy of being known at your worst with someone with the power to annihilate who does not annihilate, but instead who knows you in a way that means you don't have to pretend. which is true abt like some part of the erotic draw, but it was very fascinating to me that the frisson of being ideologically opposed or having different goals in like life didn't enter into it at all and so there's evidently no eroticism being derived from either negotiating a middle ground or in characters being emotionally conflicted abt ideals versus emotions, or characters walking away from an ideologically destructive edifice and love as redemptive power. to me it is simply not enemies to lovers enough if there isn't some genuine difference, a genuine source of contention that they need to resolve or negotiate, bc the question is whether the love will be enough or not. that's a sexy question to me, anything less just leaves me feeling cheated which tbf is also how i feel abt 90% of enemies to lovers stuff that i try to read/engage with bc there is very little interest in even having a genuine barrier or source of contention that needs to be navigated, that requires one or both of the characters to like, change their entire worldview for the other. surface level love stuff, i want the deep intimate eroticism of love being fundamentally earthshaking, worldbreaking ffs.
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