Xiao Xingchen took the bowl with two hands. "Of course I want to live. If I may live on, then allow me to persist."
"Xiao Xingchen" saying this to Wei Wuxian is just. Gnawing my own arm off. I can't.
Like. Argh. Yeah, of course Xue Yang is a survivor. Feral street cat. Bobcat. Palas cat. He wants to live, he will live, and thrive, and every second of being alive is a middle finger to the former Chang clan leader and to everyone else who treated him like something they stepped in when he was just a kid who needed help.
But he's also saying this as Xiao Xingchen. As him, about him. As if saying this while pretending to be Xiao Xingchen will make it true for Xiao Xingchen.
He's as determined to raise Xiao Xingchen as he is to survive himself - and the howling, desperate Why of it all is killing him. Can't Xue Yang want to live enough for both of them? Why doesn't Xiao Xingchen want to live, like Xue Yang? Why doesn't Xiao Xingchen want to live like Xue Yang?
Zhou Shu Yi and Gao Shi De are colored-coded boys in love.
Zhou Shu Yi is a Black Brooder (protective, sophisticated, mysterious, and arrogant) and Gao Shi De is a Blue Boy (loyal, sincere, stable, and passive). *look at the big barrier between them!* Gao Shi De actually describes Zhou Shu Yi's color and personality when they are stuck in the medical office together, and he is revealing the personality of the guy he likes.
They are very good at sticking to their color
It's because they have been doing this since they were children
However, at some point, their friendship turned sour due to its competitive nature. It's one-sided, and Zhou Shu Yi begins to hate Gao Shi De since he always loses to him. However, because of this, Blue Boy Gao Shi De is always present in Zhou Shu Yi's life.
When Gao Shi De rescues Zhou Shu Yi from the pool and gives him the kiss of life, Zhou Shu Yi panics, and is, once again, surrounded by blue.
Gao Shi De notifies Zhou Shu Yi that he is indebted to Gao Shi De or else Gao Shi De will reveal to Zhou Shu Yi's friends the reason he jumped into the pool in the first place. Zhou Shu Yi is less than thrilled, but...
The blue quickly begins to appear on Zhou Shi Yi as a dark blue
And starts to lighten as they continue to hang out.
The day he falls asleep on Gao Shi De, the blue is the brightest. Zhou Shu Yo is falling slowly in love with Gao Shi De without even noticing.
When they go to the arcade, Gao Shi De is wearing green because he is confused about his relationship with Zhou Shu Yo and thinks it's a date. He will wear green again when he finally confesses to Zhou Shu Yo after Zhou Shu Yo avoids him. Also notable, everything Zhou Shu Yo has at the arcade is blue - the balloons he must pop, the color of the wheel he must throw objects in, the color of the backdrop for his water glasses, and the basket he has to get objects at of are all blue. He loses every single game.
When they are asked to go to the haunted house, they are wearing the same outfits they had on when this arrangement began, and Zhou Shu Yo believes their arrangement will end there since he thinks he will finally beat Gao Shi De. They are full circle outfits.
However, once they are in the haunted house/escape room, Zhou Shu Yo becomes scared and realizes he needs Gao Shi De. Gao Shi De intentionally locks them in the medical room without Zhou Shu Yo knowing.
And they share a beautiful night together surrounded by reds and pinks (aka love). This is also when Gao Shi De confesses to liking Zhou Shu Yo (during their discussion and when he believes he is sleeping).
Because Zhou Shu Yo actually did hear Gao Shi De's confession, he begins to avoid him. He tries to find a girlfriend and runs away from Zhou Shu Yo, until he can't. While hallucinating about Gao Shi De, a date injures Zhou Shu Yo foot, but he tries to run away from Gao Shi De, which results in him spraining his ankle. Gao Shi De takes him to the medical office, aka to the scene of the love confession.
Once again, surrounded by love, and in his "I'm overwhelmed with emotion" green, Gao Shi De lowers himself for Zhou Shu Yo before standing up and directly tells Zhou Shu Yo "Yes I like you, but that’s none of your business" after Zhou Shu Yo tells him he can't see himself with a man. Gao Shi De leaves, but Zhou Shu Yo realizes his mistake and is engulfed in Gao Shi De's blue while he looks for him around every corner.
They finally figure it out and confess on the bridge. After they start wearing couple's bracelets that carry into the second season.
They are overwhelmed with emotions in their greens (Zhou Shu Yo wore this green shirt when he jumped into the pool).
The boys also find out that their best friends are in love with each other. Shi Zhe Yu and Liu Bing Wei are so in love, that they will continue to coordinate their outfits for the rest of their relationship. AbsoluteBL did a quick write-up of how Liu Bing Wei's ties always match Shi Zhe Yu's suits.
Time for a small break between season one and two to enjoy the queerness of this show with its inclusion of rainbows and hearts:
When we catch up with the boys guys in the second season, it's been five years, and Gao Shi De is still a Blue Boy who has been living in a blue house with a blue car.
While Zhou Shu Yo is even more of a Black Brooder in his black house and black car because he HASN'T SEEN HIS BLUE BOY FOR FIVE YEARS!
But the day after he struts himself back into his Blue Boy's life and smacks the shit out of him in front of the entire office, Zhou Shu Yo sports a blue tie while Gao Shi De opts for a black suit. *They're in love!*
Much like before, Zhou Shu Yo's incorporates Gao Shi De's blue subtly. So subtle, in fact, that it's difficult to see that his shirt has a dark blue design on it.
He doesn't want Gao Shi De to know that he has missed him for the past five years, but everything in Zhou Shu Yo's life delicately admits that Zhou Shu Yo has always thought about his Blue Boy and still loves him because the only pop of color in Zhou Shu Yo's house and life is blue.
Their tension explodes the day a blue stripe appears across Zhou Shu Yo's chest. His love is figuratively on his chest but hidden under his black color.
And the next morning, all of Gao Shi De's secrets are laid bare while he lays in the bare wrapped only in the blue Zhou Shu Yo has given back to him.
With great hesitation, Zhou Shu Yo decides to give Gao Shi De one last chance after speaking to him in the blue bed while Gao Shi De wears a neutral brown. This is similar to the confession scene in the first season in the medical office, but this time, both boys are in the light meaning they're both aware and honest.
Zhou Shu Yo fully commits himself to his Blue Boy, and his friend get on board, even though they were hesitant because they had been present for Zhou Shu Yo's heartbreak over the past five years and helped him piece back together his life without Gao Shi De.
Zhou Shu Yo's dad, who is a Red Rascal and was the biggest obstacle before, plays hardball with the boys, but because of his previous major screw up, he is no place for negotiation, and aligns himself with our Blue Boy for the sake of his son's happiness.
All ends well for the men with Zhou Shu Yo and Gao Shi De in their colors already looking like future best men to Shi Zhe Yu and Liu Bing Wei in their coordinating outfits that resemble the ones they ended the first season with while Yu Zhen Xuan and Pei Shou Yi appear as stand-in officiates.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Well, except me because WE WERE TOLD THERE WOULD BE ANOTHER SEASON YET WE HAVEN'T GOTTEN IT!
This was brought to you by the same director, Ray Jiang, and screenwriter, Lin Pei Yu, of My Tooth Your Love. Now give us a third season of WBL and a second of MTYL!
@gillianthecat inspired this. I hope you enjoy it. I'm now going to go pout in a corner because we really were given hope of a third season.
An interesting demonstration of how the human brain works.
But also something of a lesson regarding perception, and the unreliability of subjective perspective versus objective reality.
You can be extremely certain about how you perceive the world, your "lived experience," that which you "feel it in my heart." But that doesn't mean it's actually true. And it doesn't mean we have to endorse it, or ignore or outright deny objective reality.
That's a "you" thing, not a "we" thing.
i was not made for hookup culture, i was made for the most soul crushing experience ever. i was born to feel everything entirely and endlessly. i was made to feel everything deeply
*clutches fist* I just … the impact of the two children cannot be overstated … a girl and a boy, in some ways representative of all the girls and boys lost to the Games before their time … the way they are a noted synthesis of their parents’ features, the marriage of Seam and town, and the culmination of many other characters of the series with these same distinct features … the way they are described as dancing … and chubby … when their parents starved and fought … these little ones get to play … and be so well fed their mother calls attention to the healthy fat her toddler has … how Katniss and Peeta intend to teach their children how to be brave and intend to show them the good things people can do … but this isn’t something they’ll learn on their own by the harsh experience of cruelty and loss … their parents are loving and gentle and will guide them in ways their own parents could not or did not … these babies who are free to take Maude Ivory’s lullaby for granted … babies who have a father who wanted them so much, and have a mother who felt a joy so strong it tamed her most primal fears when she held them … her children … given epithets like their father … unaware of the fact that they walk on a graveyard … but also unaware, like their mother is, that a songbird and snake once walked here, and that with their existence, the legacy of the songbird’s nearly prophetic music has come to fruition and the snake is crushed … *help*