Their Love Language

I cannot believe this is what we're getting in week three. Anxiety and nightmares, comfort and protection, Win looking out for Team even as Team struggles just to find a place for himself. They start these regular competitions to try to help their swim team only for Win to realize that this is hurting Team and then to seek to help him, to love him, to protect him and the way Team stiffens in his nightmares, the way he doesn't seek anyone out but tries to keep it to himself but in the end Win is still there and suddenly the way he touches him, treats him, teases him in UWMA makes even more sense because their nights are so serious, their nights are filled with so much that the days must be smiles and gentle to make up for that.

You can be afraid of the world, but never be scared of me.

(221107) cheek pinching wars 🤏

The changes in the kisses across the first three episodes of Between Us. Win starts with passion but Team starts so shy and so soft and the way they each love and care and Win is passion and seeking while Team is reluctance, in need of teasing and gentle nudges, how each of them wants and chooses this again and again but also what they share... a mutual need, a mutual want, a mutual love that they are building in their cracks, shoring up the other's faults, finding the places that they are strong when the other is not.

Win is flames and passion and need and Team responds to that so strongly but Team starts smaller, starts sweeter and Win cannot resist even the lightest peck from him.

So far, the show has focused on Team's struggles but Win is there as well, Win who has never had anything of his own and does not know how to hold onto things, Win who has always been the middle child given leftovers and giving everything away when he outgrows, Win who wants to hold Team like the most precious thing but does not how to hold on.

Team knows how to need and to hold but he cannot fight his own fear while Win knows how to face fear head on and how to comfort but he does not know how to keep anything.

To my new followers 💕

Some of you don’t have icons, blog titles, descriptions, headers and most importantly no posts (wether it’s reblogs or original posts)

To me it’s fine because I barely check new followers anymore so idrc how many bots I may get but if you’re a real user and chances are you are also following other kpop content creators on tumblr, they might end up blocking you if you don’t make some changes because if your blog stays blank it simply doesn’t look like it’s being used by an actual person. And here on tumblr we’ve dealt with a huge bot issue for years so it’s common knowledge that blank blogs are bots and it’s common practice to block them.

So just a friendly advice to customize your blog to make sure you don’t get blocked by mistake

Question…. How do you feel about Win Hitting Team in the face after he saves him?

I wasn’t a fan of that part and I don’t know if I’m comfortable seeing it on screen. I know it’s a mix of emotions he angry, nearly lost him, but ……. I don’t know. Hope you understand .

I understand, Anon! It's a polarizing scene, and people don't need to have a unanimous opinion of it.

I personally really liked it in the novel! It was a moment of raw anger and flawed humanity from a character who's been composed and responsible ever since he got through a rebellious phase that mainly consisted of skipping class and body modification to get attention from his parents. Literally the tamest rebellion in teenage history. The punch is also framed as a mistake, and something he clearly feels guilty about almost immediately, since he then yanks Team into a hug. The novel describes Win as shaking like a frightened animal, which just underscores for me how primally terrified he was. After all, he was alone when he walked into the building and saw Team at the bottom of the pool, probably seconds from death. If Win hadn't acted as fast as he did, he would have had to watch Team die.

And Team put Win in that position through his negligence. Even worse, Team doesn't even have the grace to even act apologetically after he regains consciousness. He's dismissive and almost petulant, and while that's his whole thing, it's just not the time for it. Of course, Team's clearly suffering from a host of mental traumas, so it makes sense for him to diminish nearly dying, but from Win's perspective, he's probably imagining previously unthinkable things: would CPR and potentially breaking a rib have killed him instead? Who do you call to take a corpse? How would he ever swim again? Sleep again? I'm not arguing the punch was deserved, only that Win's so far removed from rationality at that point, he's just trying to get Team to understand the severity of the situation they're in.

Imagine how Win feels seeing Team shrug off his near-death. That could easily make Win believe that this could happen again. If Team doesn't value his life, if he takes risks like this again, if Win's not there the next time, if he doesn't take this seriously—

Anyway, that's why it worked for me. Plus, after the punch, after the hug, Win takes Team not back to the dorms, not even to his own dorm room, but to his own family's home. Win drives Team's car, stops at a convenience store to get ice for Team's face and snacks for him as a treat, literally feeds him at home, lets Team shower on his own to respect his space, and at the end of it all, he falls asleep with Team safe in his arms. Because this is who he is at his core. He's the one who talks Team down from intimidating Alex, and he's the one who gives rational advice to Dean. So I like that the novel shows that the only way to make him lose it completely is Team dismissing his own brush with death. Is it romantic? No, of course not. Is it healthy? Also, no. But I don't want a character to make the right choices every step of the way. Their mistakes and how they try to make up for them enhance their complexity for me. I mean, if Win were a real person, I'd be like, "He punched you?" but he's fictional, so I just see that scene as fascinating to explore his mentality instead.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, it works for me because it's that version of Win.

The Win we've seen in the series isn't the same Win we see in the novel. Boun made the decision in December of last year while they were filming the post-drowning scene for the pilot teaser for Win not to punch Team, and it works so well. Because it's Boun's version of Win. Novel Win didn't have a meticulous, restrained conversation about consent with Team before he slept with him the first time. Novel Win didn't even hook up with Team a second time. There are a lot of overlaps with Novel Win and Series Win, and they're both written by LazySheep, but Hemp Rope is a novel she started around 2017, and she had to take her time and a lot of consideration to adapt the novel into a script with 2022 sensibilities and growth.

So I think Boun was right to change it because he knows what this version of Win would do. And I think it says a lot in favor of Sheep and New that they saw the wisdom in his decision and allowed him to do so for the main series as well. (They show him raise his fist but switch to a hug in the trailer, just like the pilot teaser.) When directors understand and value the input of their actors, I'm always deeply impressed and appreciative. Collaborative art can be some of the most powerful, and I think Boun was incredibly smart to show that Win did have the impulse but decided against it. I think that's just as powerful for this version of him.

Essentially, I appreciate the novel scene for what it is, and I like that the series has presented a different version of it with unique nuances influenced by an actor who loves his character tremendously. <3

Flower Language Based Prompt List I made instead of writing 💐

I tried to make the prompts relate to each flower’s definition per the Victorian Flower Language without getting too repetitive.

The prompts are all fairly open ended and I figured people could use them for their own inspiration or request games!!

You know the “send me a ship and flower and I’ll write something.”

Anywho, if anyone does end up using this I’d love it if you’d tag me so I can read what you’ve written!! Either way, I hope someone can get use out my procrastinating 💖

Click here to view an unedited version of the document: The List

Between Us fans, I have a question:

Is Win actually meant to be a player (a la Prapai from LITA or Khai in TOL) or is that meant to be a misconception that Team has built up in his head?

Team obviously has a lot of anxiety about the casualness of their relationship. And the conversation he has with ABC at the bar in ep 3 seems to confirm that Win has a lot of options. But just because a lot of girls like Win doesn’t mean he’s dating them, and this information is coming from people who don’t know Win any better than Team does.

The narrative so far never actually shows Win playing the field or fending off admirers. There’s no scenes of girls or boys flocking around him or of him deleting numbers etc. Tul and Dean tease him about not being serious with anyone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Win dates lots of people–it could just imply that the people he does date don’t move beyond casual.

It doesn’t bother me if Win is a player. I’m more just wondering if this is an instance of Team (and others) not understanding who Win actually is. His whole “cool guy” exterior does seem to imply that lots of people would have crushes on him, but he seems to go through life with a tight knit group of people he really values and for all that he worries about impressing Team, he doesn’t seem overly concerned with how anyone else views him.

hello! my name is yù ♡

about me :

♡ 20 (cancer / horse)

♡ any pronouns

♡ yeonjun’s s/o

♡ i enjoy all ships and all dynamics

dnfi :

♡ you’re a minor (under 18)

♡ you’re anti-nsfw

♡ you kinkshame

♡ you’re uncomfortable with sexual content

byf :

♡ no cw/tw (proceed with caution)

♡ just for fun, not a dedicated content account

I feel like we as a society [car alarm noises and raptor shrieking]

Hi, not to risk sounding deranged I was wondering your opinion on the almost constant flicking of eyes to lips in the series. I noticed this particularly with Team/Prem like whenever winteam are in close proximity to eachother they always look like their .5 seconds away from kissing. Just curious if you think this was something they were directed to do to build the characters/relationship or if it's just happening cause of the tension in the moment- either way I love little things like that that show the chemistry between the characters/actors. I'm a sucker for small pieces of intimacy rather than grand gestures cause its so much more realistic.

LISTEN, LOVELY ANON.

I WELCOME DERANGED ASKS WITH SPECIAL FONDNESS AND ENTHUSIASM. THIS IS A PLACE OF EXCESS AND NOISE. YOU ARE SAFE HERE.

Now! With that out of the way!

It could very well be a director thing OR it could be a thing that BounPrem just know to do as actors. Prem also did it as Team in UWMA during the conbini scene, if I'm remembering correctly. He's always been good at those little microexpressions, and he's only gotten better since.

Like take the bus scene in episode 13 where Team's just barely smiling.

It's so hard for me to pinpoint exactly how I can tell he's smiling, but it's some very minute detail around his eyes. Like! He was BRAND NEW to acting when he took the role of Team, and he was already doing little things like this. According to New, he listened extremely closely to all critiques and took direction beautifully, so he improved exponentially throughout filming. And it's been three years since then, so he's just a powerhouse, honestly. He's good at so many things, and he's so devoted to improvement and becoming well-rounded overall. I'm very fond of him. ;___;

I did a whole thing about Prem and his microexpressions when I was brand new to fandom. He's always impressed me.

SO ANYWAY BETWEEN US.

It's definitely happening a lot. The first one I found at random when I went to look is the little surprise kiss during the bottled water scene.

Win looks down at Team's lips for a second, which is clever, because it cuts away to Team right after, so you're not expecting the cut back to Win or the kiss. This might've been a serendipitous choice Boun made that worked out well in post when it came time to edit the scene.

He does it in the wide shot later on at the pool, too!

It's such a little thing, but it's details like that that make rewatching so much fun because on the first watch you're so focused on what's going on in the big-picture sense, you might miss some of these little things.

Whether it was their idea or New's or someone else's influence entirely, I'm a big fan. <3