Two things I've been thinking about with regard to Fangs of Fortune (it's so rare for me not to move on immediately from a drama; usually no matter how much I like it, the moment it's done so am I.)
(1) The bells in Jiu and ZYC's hair. The way this is a theme that runs throughout the entire narrative to culminate in them being clutched in Jiu's hand as he saves the world. But also - Jiu wore those bells because he was afraid he'd never be found - that hide and seek metaphor. And yet when he was lost in his own body due LL taking over (and significantly it's shown through his being locked in his hiding place, unable to come out), the team keeps searching and willing to die (YL does die!) for him to be found and to be brought back. And then at the end, the bell he wore in his hair in hope of being found is in ZYC's hair forever and ever - Jiu removed the tongue of the bell as part of his belief he does not need to be searched for (his last wish was don't grieve me) but by putting it into his hair to always accompany him during all the years of his now close to immortal life, ZYC has transformed the message - the bell does not need the tongue any more because Jiu does not need to be looked for any more, sure. But the reason he does not need to be looked for any more is because he's always there now, always with the man he looked up to the most and found safety in. He is now always found.
(2) I am still in that moment in the epilogue where ZYZ's soul flies to ZYC's hands. I've talked a lot about that already but I can't stop. I love that the hopeful ending with its promise of future happiness and reunion is possible because ZYC took a look at the final, most awful iteration of the trolley problem (I can't remember who in the tag labeled a lot of their quests this way but you are 100% right!) and broke the constraints of the rules. Because finally in his long long life, ZYZ found someone as powerful and capable and good as he is, but also someone just a tad more persistent. Because ZYC is immovable in his quest to save those near to him to the best of his considerable ability and if he needs to bend the rules of reality and the drive of destiny, so be it. He will sacrifice himself without hesitation but those he loves are different.
Because ZYZ's salvation is an act of love - of ZYC's refusal to have ZYZ do the ultimate sacrifice of walking onto that sword. Thus actually making sure ZYZ is not a liar - he said he won't seek death and by taking the burden of killing him instead of making him kill himself - ZYC makes that statement ZYZ said true. (In a different religious tradition where suicide is a sin that sends you to hell but murder can perhaps be forgiven if sufficiently repented for, one could talk about how this action literally saves ZYZ's soul for heaven at the possible cost of ZYC. Yes, I realize medieval Catholic doctrine is inapplicable to this drama, but I like the different notions of salvation and sacrifice among cultures and how they can reflect different understandings and view of humanity and moral duty.)
It's very much because of censorship (which I of course loathe) that the nature of ZYZ x ZYC relationship has all these lacunae and unspoken spaces. Yes, we know they are soulmates/mirrors but there is room to interpret their relationship as - romantic, platonic, part of a throuple, something else. And I so genuinely admire the narrative for making a virtue of the censorship necessity and transforming the constraint into the message of lack of labels on love, into discussion on all forms of love - romantic, familial, friend, etc - being crucial and not waving the flag of sexual-romantic love supremacy. There is something so beautiful in the narrative going "they are each other's most important person and their love and devotion can literally bring back from the dead and save the world. And does the nature of that love even matter? What matters is the strength of it." Taking unfair, stupid restrictions and turning them into art is something else indeed.
even in death, I search for you
šā”āāā Weak Hero Class 2 (2025)
and itās like. oh you can see how badly bison wants to make sure kant is fully on board with this dynamic. kant has to beg multiple times for bison to actually slap him hard, bison is the one that suggests the safe word, he tells kant to tell him if the clamps start to hurt too much. heās checking in and checking in and checking in and then they get to his house and heās drunk and heās drugged and he pulls out ropes and a blindfold and a whip and kant is visibly terrified but bison canāt SEE that and kant wonāt say the safe word because he has to keep bisonās trust and bison tells him āi hope you donāt say itā because he doesnāt have the filter to realize the way that will sound. and itās kantās fault yeah cause he kept pushing and he drugged him, but i keep thinking about how embarrassed bison looked when he realized heād bit kant and hurt him and that kant seemed shocked. heās gonna be so fucking upset when he realizes what he did and eventually that maybe kant was not as into it as he claimed
maybe it's just me projecting because they're my favourite pairs from the show but there are just too many similarities to brush it off as coincidence!!
1. soulmates to the grave: suho & sieun. baku & gotak. suho & sieun are each other's best friends & soulmates. baku & gotak are the same for each other. they protect each other, they bicker, they laugh together. baku sleeps at gotak's place when he has a fight with his dad.
2. guardian angels: suho has always been the protector. baku is the protector of the whole school. theyāre both the unspoken shields of their best friends, always showing up when things go sideways.
3. crippling guilt: sieunās greatest wound is suho getting hurt because of him. and baku's greatest wound is gotak getting hurt because of him. they both carry the unbearable weight of believing itās their fault. even if it wasn't.
4. the obsessive third wheels: beomseok's fixation on suho. baekjinās twisted obsession with baku. they're the reasons suho & gotak actually got hurt.
5. the combat athletes: suho the boxer. gotak the taekwondo prodigy. both reduced to tragedy after a fight. suho ends up in a coma. gotak is forced to quit his taekwondo career.
6. they donāt want to fightābut they will: suho and baku both hate violence. suho's always asking people to stop when the fights get too serious. and baku has a no-fighting policy for eunjang. but when itās for their friends? they will. suho's calm shatters. bakuās restraint burns. and they fight.
7. crossing the line for love: suho breaking youngbinās hand because he hurt sieunās. baku almost choking someone to death with his bare hands because they laid a finger on gotak. when it's them getting hurt, suho & baku ā who never the cross the line ā actually end up crossing the line.
8. "he only exists for him": jihoon saying āgotak exists because baku exists.ā the director saying āsuho solely exists for sieun.ā
9. their weaknesses: baekjin uses gotak to manipulate baku into joining the union & threatening to harm suho to torment sieun. everyone knows where the soft spot is.
10. the colors say it all: suho & baku often seen wearing red. sieun & gotak usually in greys & blues.
so like, please get on the bakugotak agenda, because they're literally suhosieun adjacent.
@echo-story it begins!
A Love Like Ours, coming soon ^_^
@jingooism another jwds fic to melt your heart and make your teeth hurt ^_^
When you were young and spry, did you guys ever think that you'd be on a cruise in a hot tub with the rest of your throuple for the purpose of processing a pregnancy scare by eating Hostess cupcakes? The cupcakes are unexpected.Ā
Avery Morgan, Tristan Silva and Max Bankman in Doctor Odyssey (2025)
Hello!!
As I am desperately absorbing any speck of Top Form content before the new episode tomorrow, Iād love to hear your thoughts on how Akin and Jin might possibly resolve their current rift/misunderstanding/situation. I have not seen the original anime, but Iām cautiously optimistic for how the live adaptation will handle this. (I desperately need at least one solid interaction where Akin has an understanding and compassionate audience)
Iāve found that I tend to fixate on moments in shows where characters encounter misunderstandings or friction, as the various paths to resolution fascinate me.
Anyway! Apologies for the long ask ā„ļø
Oh, we're so close to the next episode!
And I do think they could resolve this very well, though I cannot say that I trust the show to do that. But I do trust the show more than the fanbase at this point? Maybe?
I mean, all it takes is Akin telling Jin that he didn't consent to whatever happened and Jin believing him. It takes Jin calming down, realizing he needed to hear Akin out and then listening when Akin speaks to him. That's all it would take!
Will we get that? Ehhhhhhh. EHHHHHHHH.
I want to believe.
I want to be so, so hopeful and to see them resolve this like the 2025 show they are and have it be made clear that Jin reacted poorly and that Akin isn't to blame and that once they talk they can understand each other and be happier and then the Jin claiming Akin scene can be beautiful. Because that scene being about Jin and Akin, together, reclaiming Akin's body? Could be gorgeous. Could be everything.
I do not guarantee this.
I have also not seen the original but it sounds like this problem and dynamic might have been changed for this specific remake as well so how it could be handled and solved is up in the air.
Anyway.
I really, really hope the show sees that Akin doesn't deserve any of the blame and only deserves to be loved and comforted and held and chosen and lets Jin do all of that.
But I worry that societal pressure is going to say that Akin shouldn't have been drinking and that he's going to apologize to Jin and then Jin is going to reclaim him in a way that just... won't feel satisfactory.
I always, sincerely, worry when a show tries to solve a conflict with sex. But the honey scene was well done and well layered so hopefully they can continue that into this and not fall into victim blaming. They changed the original encounter with Jin and Akin so... fingers crossed.
But I do worry about this. This would not be the first show to ruin itself for me by deciding that this kind of assault just Didn't Matter if the two people are gonna fall in love later.
(No spoilers from ep9)
If you don't know what a disorganized attachment style is, it is one of the four attachment styles (Secure, Anxious, Avoidant, and Disorganized), often stems from childhood experiences resulting in inconsistent and unpredictable behaviours in relationships.
People with this style of attachment often find it difficult to trust people, have mixed feelings, and have negative views of others and themselves. They seek closeness and then withdraw to avoid getting hurt.
Akin, the most huggable (or sexiest) man and the winner of so many Best Actor awards comes across as cold and detached at first. But then we see how caring and considerate he is of the people around him (arranges food for the whole crew, helps a newbie with his acting, and even deals kindly with his stalker). He is emotional (the hundred times he cried) and most importantly he is a perfectionist. Even though that helps him in his acting career, he tends to bring the same in his relationship with Jin which worsens their already existing issues. Perfectionists need a certain amount of control over whatever they do and when they cannot have that, they either procrastinate the task or abandon it completely.
Akin suggests breakups whenever he feels like he's at fault because he fails to control the situation.
-> He starts freezing Jin out when he doesn't win the Sexiest Man award and feels even worse about feeling the loss. The breakdown that day was not from jealousy. No- when he couldn't maintain the perfect Actor/Celebrity status heās expected and worked to be, he broke down. To stop projecting that bitterness onto Jin he acts cold.
-> He wants to break up when Johnny happens and he believes he was at fault. He lost control and there's nothing he can do/be to Jin to make it any better or perfect as before. During ep7 when Jin confesses his love, Akinās instant response is, āThat's why want to break up with you ā. Meaning- āI did something wrong, I can't be perfect for you so let's end thisā.
But he doesn't bring breakup during the whole stalker headache. He knows he's not completely at fault (he says the same thing in ep8) and knows thereās something they could do to control the issue.
-> He wants to break up again (not spoiling for those who didn't watch ep9, but you're going to see a lot of Akinās need for control there). He's losing control, he cannot ensure the perfect love life for Jin if things continue this way.
But what does Jin want?
Jin only wants Akin. He wants to be there, good or bad. He doesn't care for awards or titles. Heād praise his boyfriend openly, even when he's the winner, consequences and ego be damned, and wants to share every happiness with him.
-> He throws himself out of the car immediately when Akin storms out in distress in ep5. He doesn't hesitate a second to run behind his man, lets Akin cry and gather his thoughts by himself and then kisses him to apologize for not understanding him.
-> Even though he leaves Akin alone in the parking lot after the Johnny thing, he goes to watch Akinās play, when he himself said he wouldn't chase Akin anymore. He's not ready to abandon their relationship and goes to investigate the truth of it. Again there's no hesitancy in Jin to apologize for leaving Akin alone and not be with him that day.
Now Jin is not perfect, none of us are, but he is perfect for Akinās disorganized attachment style.
Often people with this type of attachment are the first to initiate breakup as a means to control the situation. But do they really want a breakup in the first place? No. Underneath all the pain, and fear of abandonment they need someone to fight for them and be with them even when they are not perfect.
(None of the GIFs and images are mine. All credit to the creators)
Hello!
I am really new to tumblr, so Iām still learning the ropes. I want to experiment with fics and one shots, so if any one has any tips or pointers that would be great!
@echo-story @quillinhand @rumpleteasa @jingooism @striving4mikey I refuse to let a little thing like food poisoning stop me from writing cute shit
A Love Like Ours, coming soon š