Okay, so not to be negative in the fandom or anything, but I really hate when fanfics just make everything okay right after TK and Carlos get together. Like, the boy (Tk) has issues, and they aren't just magically solved because he got himself a boyfriend. Yeah, having Carlos probably helps. Carlos would be there on his bad days and probably make bad days more manageable and that's awesome! (I need to continue this on another ask, I'm running out of characters)
Anonymous said: (my rant continues) it's great that TK has Carlos and it's great that Carlos makes him happy. But Carlos is not TK's happiness. I'm just so over the fact that people make it seem like everything gets solved once you have a boyfriend. The issues are still there, you just have an extra person to help you through them. It's just a really bad way (in my opinion) to portray addiction and mental health and people should stop. Okay, that's my rant finished.
I completely agree with you on this, and I could go on a rant of my own, but I think you said it well. One of my least favorite things in any fic is the idea that “love saves” and that being in love will magically fix things. Like it’s ridiculous to see someone with mental health issues have one heart to heart with a loved one and then their issues just suddenly vanish. Recovery isn’t linear, and as you mention it can help to have a support system who can make the bad days less bad, but it doesn’t change that the bad days happen. Do I read fics from certain tags where this happen just because I am desperate for content in those certain areas? Yes. But I never feel fulfilled from those fics because they’re just not realistic and feel dismissive of the mental ill person’s role in their own recovery. On a related note, I also have serious issues that have angst for the sake of angst without any mention of the recovery process because it furthers similarly problematic ideas. I’m so glad that you pointed this out because I think good portrayals of mental illness are so important, even in fandom.
