#24?

[modmad]

WAIT how old were you when you started the comic?

idk man i just live here

[mysticflourcookie]

timecacao is rivals to lovers except by “rivals” I mean that timekeeper annoys the shit out of him at first

[howertism]

awwwwwwh

[tinnchan]

Phupha and Tian never say I love you, i like you, i want to be with you. They never admit their feelings to each other in a conventional way. Can you imagine one of them asking the other to be his boyfriend?!

They never had to say these things. And the story makes it work.

In Phupha and Tian's world, a thank you is an admission of feelings:

It's not 'do you like me?' or 'do you want to date?' when it can be this instead:

It's 'I want you and I know you want me too. Please, ask me to stay' and in answer, it's 'i can't but you have made me so happy in the short time we had':

It's not 'I love you, can we be together now? It's so much better. It's a promise to stay at each other's side for the rest of their lives:

Obviously, things are bound to be different for them when they are thrown 10 years worth of angst, life or death situations and a two year separation. Admittedly, these things tends to accelerate the relationship progress bar.

So yes, at one point they are past leaving things unsaid or implied within a fuckton of layers. But even when they do vocalize their feelings to each other, it's never in the way you would expect. That's purposeful. We are meant to feel that for when it comes to Tian and Phupha, things are different.

atots does follow the beats and many tropes of your typical, universal love stories. Yet, it's fascinating to see what parts atots chooses to draw out (the tentative first steps of courtship) and what it decides to ccompletely drops (the i love yous and other relationship-checklist things) and I can't help but wonder if this is what made atots resonate with queer people who grew up with asian romances.

atots is such an interesting love story because despite everything they skipped, despite everything which goes unsaid, or rather, because of these, Phupha and Tian become a love story for the ages.

[uriagii]

oh my god it’s alex claremont-diaz’s birthday

[trekkele]

ok so i figure that Lu Ten was born some time in early/middle spring, but i cannot figure out how old he was when he died.

Based on his size compared to Zuko amd Iroh he was probably 7-9 when Zuko was 1, and Zuko was 9ish when he died, so he was...17-18?? That cant be right.

[javaberrychip1998]

Wait, the older guy in Call Me By Your Name is supposed to be 24? That’s what everyone was so upset about? That’s just two years out of college. Thats the character that people said was glorifying p*dophilia? In a story where the complex nature of their relationship is pretty much the whole point?

Anyway I’m reading the book now and I’m starting to think some people on the internet are allergic to nuance.