#caesliveblogging — Public Fediverse posts

Mayumi apologizes for being tactless, but then admits the reason he asked is that he has a relationship question. Yasumi tells him he's welcome to ask, since while he may not have a girlfriend now he has dated in the past. Mayumi is then like, do you remember the summer festival in my neighborhood that you came to last year? (Yasumi does.) Remember those floats that the different neighborhoods pitted against one another? (Yasumi does, and further remembers that Mayumi didn't join in on pulling them.) Well, let's hypothetically say that I was pulling them, and that my girlfriend also wanted to pull them, but that I didn't want her to. Why do you think I would feel that way?

To clarify, you're asking me to explain your own thought process? Yasumi asks.

Okay yeah that's kind of convoluted, Mayumi acknowledges.

But no, it makes sense, Yasumi continues. If I was the boyfriend in that situation, I wouldn't want my girlfriend pulling the float either.

You wouldn't? Mayumi asks, surprised.

Of course not! Yasumi replies. As her boyfriend, I would want her to wear a cute yukata and watch adorably from the sidelines, not sweat and holler with the guys!

Hearing this surprisingly simple reason, Mayumi suddenly can't unsee Yasumi's resemblance to his own brother Taiga. Just like Taiga, Yasumi is kind and dependable. And just like Taiga, he's super gender essentialist. No wonder Mayumi trusts him. No wonder he can't get a girlfriend. All is explained.

(Though it does make Mayumi appreciate what a miracle it is that Taiga ended up with anyone at all. Mayumi silently thanks Shuu for being such a weirdo as to fall in love with him. He also silently casts a wish for a cute, demure, improbably understanding girl to materialize before Yasumi someday.)

Was my advice helpful? Yasumi asks. Mayumi's thoughts snap back to the matter at hand, and he realizes that Yasumi's advice has if anything made his own situation more confusing, because it's impossible to imagine that Yuuta's hangup about him pulling the floats has anything to do with Yuuta wanting him to act more feminine. But he doesn't say that to Yasumi.

Then Yasumi remembers that he keeps meaning to apologize to Mayumi for an incident last year, in which the rest of the club tried to peer-pressure Mayumi into crossdressing and Yasumi told them to stop embarrassing him. He has since realized that it was maybe insensitive of him to assume that crossdressing was automatically something Mayumi should find embarrassing (particularly given that Mayumi himself wore girls' clothes and didn't think anything of it for the first several years of his life).

Mayumi was indeed bothered by that incident, but he didn't expect Yasumi to ever apologize for it so he's surprised and touched to get an apology now. He thinks again about what a good sempai Yasumi is, and what a shame it is that his view of romance is so hopelessly outdated.

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

SCENE 5 (pp 40-54)

It's now mid-June! Mayumi's softball team has just won a match and is currently celebrating at a nearby yakitori joint. As manager, Mayumi is too busy running around to eat (though I'm not sure exactly why – is he fetching people's drinks? The book just says he's 立ち働いている), until his now-graduated softball club sempai, Yasumi, saves the day by inviting him to take a break and furnishing a plate of freshly-grilled yakitori skewers, which Mayumi devours with joy.

(Refresher on Yasumi: last year, when Mayumi was a freshman in university, Yasumi was the friendly fourth-year vice-captain of the softball club and his good friend Ookoshi was the kind of scary captain. Yasumi recruited Mayumi to be the club's manager and was a great source of emotional support to him, even helping him work through his lingering trauma from the assault he suffered as a young child. Then Yasumi made things awkward by having a late-in-life sexuality awakening and confessing his love to Mayumi. Mayumi let him down gently by saying he was already dating someone, and since then, he and Yasumi have just been good friends.)

The two of them chat about how the club is going. Mayumi also thinks back to how just recently, Yasumi gave him an unexpected insight into the ongoing Taiga-Shuu conflict at home. (That conversation is covered in more detail in book fifteen, which unfolds concurrently with this one.) Then Mayumi asks whether Yasumi has a girlfriend yet. Yasumi gets miffed and says Mayumi knows very well that he doesn't, and also, that someone like Mayumi who already has a girlfriend should be more tactful about asking single people about sensitive topics such as their relationship status.

(Sidebar: in an author's note in the second short story collection, Sugano-sensei reveals that she actually headcanons that Yasumi has actually secretly been dating Ookoshi ever since Yasumi got turned down by Mayumi. She imagines that Ookoshi heard about the failed confession, was like, 'Wait, you like guys? I've held off on pursuing you because I assumed you were straight, but if you're not, this changes everything,' and that they've been together since then. But if they are together, Mayumi doesn't know about it, so it never comes up in these chapters. Also during this whole conversation, Ookoshi is also at this nomikai, on the other side of the room grilling the current softball club captain.)

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

SCENE 4 (pp 32-40)

It's now June, and on a rainy Sunday when his softball club practice has been rained out, Mayumi decides to go visit the warehouse near the local shrine where the festival floats are stored, and where the festival committee members "hold planning meetings" AKA hang out and chat.

Mayumi hasn't hung around here since he stopped being a nyokan in his second year of junior high school. It just felt awkward to transition straight from the very feminine role of the nyokan to the very masculine role of float-pulling, but not doing either means being relegated to sitting on the sidelines with nothing to do on festival night itself, and some subconscious part of Mayumi knew that if he were to spend too much time with his friends and neighbors at this warehouse as they excitedly looked forward to the float battles, he would start to feel resentful. But today he decided to come by and see if pulling the floats might be for him after all.

He's greeted by his friend and neighbor Tatsuya and his old classmates + members of the erstwhile Mayumi Protection Squad Kouji and Katsuo, who Mayumi is surprised to find look much more grown-up than he remembers. All three of them started work after graduating high school, making Mayumi the only one currently a student. They chat a little about their jobs and Mayumi's softball club managing, which makes Mayumi feel a little melancholy about how much all their lives have diverged since high school. Then, one of the others mentions offhand that if Mayumi's looking for Yuuta, he's not here yet.

The fact that Yuuta comes to festival planning meetings at all is news to Mayumi; Yuuta has never once mentioned spending time here, despite the fact that he's otherwise pretty open about telling Mayumi the particulars of his day during their nightly catch-up talks. Is Yuuta keeping it a secret? Why would he want to keep it a secret?

Just then, Yuuta himself comes in. Mayumi is surprised to see that not only Tatsuya (who hangs around quite a lot at the Obinata-Asuou household), but Kouji and Katsuo all greet him with obvious familiarity. Yuuta is familiar right back, at least until he sees Mayumi there, at which point he freezes up.

Mayumi's heart sinks, because the taken-aback look on Yuuta's face makes it clear that Mayumi didn't just imagine his bad reaction the other day. For some reason, Yuuta doesn't want Mayumi to be here.

In the next moment, Yuuta relaxes and greets Mayumi like normal. But Mayumi is shaken, and lies that he's tired and heads out. #MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

Ryuu is like, This is Jou, your pro boxer brother who is well into his twenties?, just to check. Akinobu is like 'I know, I know, but this really is a big deal for him! He never helps out in the kitchen, ever!' And Ryuu is like, are you sure your mental image of him isn't frozen in elementary school? And Akinobu, deeply unconvincingly, says that's not true and that he totally sees Jou as an adult.

Ryuu regards the brocon he's in love with with weary fondness. He also reflects that for all that Jou makes a big deal of glowering at Ryuu whenever he sees him, whereas Akinobu is gentle, kind, and abhors violence, Akinobu is actually secretly the more strong-willed of the two, at least when it comes to things he feels strongly about (like not wanting to watch his beloved brother Jou get punched in the face and thus refusing to go watch his boxing matches even though nothing would make Jou happier than to see his beloved brother Akinobu in the stands). This iron will of Akinobu's is actually a huge comfort to Ryuu, who used to worry that he might have just pressured Akinobu into a relationship with him. Ryuu figures that it also means that whatever it was about the flute that got Akinobu feeling so down a few minutes ago, it must not have been that important, because if it had been important then Akinobu wouldn't have hesitated to tell Ryuu about it.

Then Ryuu concedes that it sounds like the miso thing was a pretty big deal for Jou after all, and certainly one that his future wife will appreciate whenever he gets married.

'Married …' Akinobu repeats. His suddenly conflicted expression suggests that either he's never before considered the possibility that Jou might someday get married, or that he doubts Jou ever /can/ get married, and either way Ryuu feels a pang of sympathy for Jou. #MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

SCENE 3: pp 24-32

Scene: the Kimura flower shop, where Ryuu (the owner) and Akinobu (the part-time employee who's also the owner's boyfriend) are taking their break. As he waters the carnations left over from Mother's Day, Ryuu offhandedly mentions Shuu's big book-signing event that happened the other day.

"How did you know about the book signing?" asks Akinobu, and Ryuu tells him that the bookseller across the street had brought it up (or rather, had marveled that the same Asuou Shuu who struggled to operate a cash register could competently host a big book signing in a ritzy Ginza bookstore).

Ah yes, says Akinobu, as he thinks back to the time Shuu decided he was going to quit his job as a novelist and work instead at the bookstore, only to be bested by the owner's old-fashioned cash register. (I think this was book nine? He also tried and failed to find employment at the fried foods shop and assorted other small businesses in the shopping arcade.)

Ryuu is like, are you stressed? You seem stressed. He worries Akinobu's studies might be tiring him out, but Akinobu reassures him that that isn't so. Then he pulls out the flute he brought with him in order to practice Ryuu is impressed with his diligence in starting to rehearse for the summer festival three months early, but Akinobu says that he doesn't have a musical bone in his body and that he needs to start practicing around this time of year or he won't be able to re-learn how to play the pieces in time for the festival.

Ryuu privately wonders why someone without a musical bone in his body would offer to play in the hayashi ensemble at the festival in the first place, but before he can ask Akinobu about it, Akinobu starts to play, and the nostalgic sound of the flute gets Ryuu's blood all fired up as his soul is transported back to the rowdy festivals of his youth.

Then he notices that Akinobu's expression has grown clouded, but before he can ask about /that/ Akinobu is suddenly reminded of something else entirely, and interrupts his own practice to tell Ryuu that Jou made a breakthrough recently!

Oh? Ryuu asks, remembering how Jou still harbors a one-sided grudge against him for dating Akinobu.

Yes! Akinobu explains that lately Shuu has started acting strangely again, and it hasn't yet gotten to the point where it's affecting his cooking, but everyone in the family remembers the Great Miso Soup Crisis of the year before, and knowing that that grim fate might befall the household again Jou has learned to put miso in his own soup all by himself. #MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

Yuuta says that's a stupid thing to worry about, and Mayumi admits he's not really worried. But then he asks why Yuuta doesn't want him to pull the float with him at the summer festival.

Yuuta denies not wanting Mayumi to pull the float. Mayumi is like, you liar, you totally don't want me to pull it! He's determined to ferret out the reason for Yuuta's displeasure because he knows that Yuuta is unusually good at reading people's emotions (which Mayumi imagines is partly because he couldn't afford not to, growing up with his abusive birth dad), and that because of this Yuuta sometimes decides to resign himself to things without even giving others the opportunity to change their behavior. But Yuuta insists that he really doesn't mind if Mayumi wants to do it, and that Mayumi should do whatever he feels like doing. He then gives Mayumi a quick kiss, and falls asleep still holding him.

Despite Yuuta's words, Mayumi is now more worried than ever, because he knows Yuuta is still lying to him and he also has no idea what could be such a big deal that it would keep Yuuta from telling him the real reason he's opposed to something as seemingly inconsequential as whether or not Mayumi pulls a float at the summer festival.

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

SCENE 2: pp 17-24

We are now in Mayumi and Yuuta's bedroom on the second floor, the 4.5 jou bedroom whose outer wall is adjacent to the neighboring tofu shop, the bedroom that Taiga unthinkingly decided Mayumi and Yuuta should share before he ever dreamed that the two of them would become a couple (a decision he came to regret when they did become a couple only a few months after beginning to share it), and the bedroom which has been both a blessing and a curse to Mayumi and Yuuta themselves because on the one hand it means they get to spend every night together but it also means having to constantly restrain themselves from fooling around on account of their family members, and also I suppose the tofu shop, being on the other side of the wall.

Anyway, Mayumi has just come up from the bath. Because it takes a while for everyone in a six-person household to take their turn bathing, it is now ten PM, and Yuuta (who took his bath earlier because he was tired from work) is now asleep, but he wakes up when Mayumi comes in. Instead of climbing up to his own bunk, Mayumi climbs into bed with Yuuta. Yuuta complains that Mayumi's hair is wet but allows him to snuggle. They then chat for a bit, as has become their custom in the year and change since they graduated high school and began their separate journeys as carpenter and university student, respectively.

Yuuta asks how Mayumi's classes were, and Mayumi complains that he can't keep up with them because the teachers use too many confusing English loan words for which there are perfectly good Japanese equivalents (examples: fact, agenda, evidence, consensus …). Yuuta is like, is the teacher foreign? And Mayumi is like, no! Yuuta is mystified by the workings of academia.

Mayumi then asks how Yuuta's day was. Yuuta says he got scolded at work for moving around too much, just like always. But then he adds that today he finally realized that what his master actually meant by that was that Yuuta was making too many unnecessary movements when doing his carpentry work.

Hearing this, Mayumi is impressed by how much Yuuta is learning and growing in his real adult job while Mayumi feels like he's stuck in perpetual adolescence. He wonders out loud whether Yuuta will eventually find him too immature to want to be with as their lives continue to diverge.

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

Everyone else is like ????? at this conversational segue, but it succeeds in getting the table to talk about the history of Japanese festivals and the approach of their own summer festival this August. We are reminded of everyone's traditional roles at this festival: Akinobu has been playing the flute in the hayashi since he was a first year in elementary school; Jou and Yuuta help pull the parade floats (山車) that engage in raucous battle with the floats from the other neighborhoods; Taiga also used to pull the floats until he started working full-time, and now just stops by the festival briefly on his way home from work; and Mayumi used to ride the parade float dressed as a beautiful nyokan/court maiden from ages six to fourteen, but they only let you do that until the end of junior high and so for the past five years he's just been watching on the sidelines.

Jou imagines that sitting on the sidelines might be getting dull, so he invites Mayumi to come help them pull the floats if he wants this year. Taiga offers to let Mayumi use his old koikuchi shirt for this purpose; Mayumi contemplates just how much sweat and blood and tears such a garment might have accumulated over the years of Taiga wearing it, and is like, that's very generous but I forgot I actually have a koikuchi shirt of my own so I'm good.

And then Mayumi looks at Yuuta, and gets an unexpected shock, because in that moment he can see on Yuuta's face that he REALLY DOESN'T WANT Mayumi to join them in pulling the floats. But instead of sharing the reason for his disapproval, Yuuta makes a lukewarm noise of agreement and the conversation moves on.

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

SCENE 1 (pp 7-17)

THE TIME: a morning in early May, shortly after Shuu and Taiga have their big wisteria fight at the beginning of novel #15.

(The backstory here: last autumn, Taiga and Shuu were split up at work so that Taiga got a new assigned novelist and Shuu got a new assigned editor. For six straight months, Shuu protested this change with all his might while Taiga pretended he was okay with it. Then in April, Shuu finally made peace with the new arrangement and proposed to Taiga that the two of them go on a trip to Ashikaga to see their famous wisteria; Taiga, however, was secretly still very much bothered both by the work switch and by Shuu's seeming acceptance of the work switch, and spitefully said Shuu should go on his own. Since then they have been sniping at each other about various trivial topics for weeks.)

THE PLACE: the dining table of the Obinata home in Ryuuzucho district three, where Taiga, Shuu, Akinobu (still a grad student), Jou (still a pro boxer), Mayumi (now a second year university student) and Yuuta (now in his second year of apprenticeship at the Yamashita altar makers) are all gathered for breakfast.

Akinobu and Jou are just happy that Shuu is recovered enough from the emotional turmoil of the author-editor switch that he's back to remembering to put the miso in their miso soup again. Yuuta thinks their standard for happiness is too low, because this low-sodium miso that Shuu has been using since last summer is clearly inferior to the full-sodium version he used to use. Mayumi is with Yuuta in feeling discontent, because even though Shuu is supposedly over his work-related discontent he and Taiga are clearly still fighting.

(Mayumi is also wearing the black tracksuit again, Yuuta observes. It's so comfy! Mayumi insists. It wasn't until he became the manager of his university's baseball club in spring of last year that he realized just how convenient it is to just be able to wear a tracksuit anywhere, all the time, even when your live-in boyfriend is starting to wish you would pick out sexier clothes.)

As they talk, Shuu scolds Taiga for reading the newspaper while eating. Jou glances over at said newspaper and sees that it contains an announcement about an upcoming book-signing event for Shuu's latest best-seller. Everyone else senses that bringing this topic up will result in their guardians having yet another fight about work, so to forestall it Yuuta hurriedly stuffs a piece of tamagoyaki in Jou's mouth and Akinobu is like BY THE WAY, did you all know that summer festivals were originally held in the Edo Period to ward off plague?

#MainichiSeiten #Caesliveblogging #BL

Just watched the first episode of #4minutes , the new Bible-led #ThaiBL from Be On Cloud. I'm liking it so far! The mystery is mysterious, the cinematography is BoC-typical levels of stylish and expensive-looking, and I already want to know more about the characters.

It was also fun to see familiar BoC faces pop up, including:

- Bible, ofc (playing a character who, at least on the surface, is a lot more grounded and normal than Vegas, but I won't hold that against him. He continues to be very pretty even if I don't think this haircut flatters him quite as much as the Vegas one did)
- Bas, who I swear I have a localized case of face blindness for, because I never recognized him without his Arm glasses in photo shoots during the KinnPorsche days, and even after having seen him out of glasses in those photo shoots I *still* didn't realize that was him in this show until I checked the cast list after the episode ended (but his acting was good here in any case)
- Job, who I *did* recognize despite the fact that this time he is the one wearing glasses
- Fuaiz (White in DFF! He was good there, I'm happy to see him get another big role)

And reading the full cast list, it looks like we're soon going to get Mio (New in DFF), JJay (Tee in DFF, who gave maybe my favorite performance in that entire show so I'm especially excited to see him back), and Jet (Top in DFF, who ... did not give my favorite performance in that show, but it will be interesting to see if he has range) as well. Bring it on! #ThaiDrama #Caesliveblogging

Also, this comment from my friend is only vaguely spoilery, but it made me laugh #ShadowtheSeries #ThaiDrama #Caesliveblogging

Have now watched through episode nine of #ShadowtheSeries , and nooo the ghosts are malevolent and have acquired box cutters :( I'm used to mundane dramas where all the threats are human and at least in theory capable of being reasoned with or explained away with basic psychology, so this is a new and slightly stressful level of peril for me. Stay strong, Dan!

I don't want to draw any conclusions about the show's themes until I've seen the whole thing, but so far I'm interested in the whole Thing the series seems to be doing with the overlap between trauma/abuse, mental illness and genuine supernatural phenomena (Dan's mom, Trin and now Dan receiving psychiatric treatment for problems that are very real and not just in their heads; Trin and Dan seeing things that might be ghosts or might be psychosis; Dan's shadow manifesting in response to his father abusing his mother, but also being a concrete presence that Nai can perceive; etc etc). #ThaiDrama #Caesliveblogging

BOSTONNICK

Saving these two for last because they were the true MVPs of the episode for me. Their trajectory this episode was so bittersweet, but also to me the realest and most nuanced of all the pairing resolutions -- because sometimes you really love someone, but at the end of the day your needs and theirs are fundamentally incompatible, but still you both try to make things work and be the other person's perfect boyfriend even if it's not who you really are BECAUSE you like them so much. I really felt how much they cared about each other this episode, even as they were painfully breaking up, especially as they were painfully breaking up.

Until said breakup, I could have seen them making a go of an open relationship (and I could maybe still see it working years down the line, when they've both had some time to grow and get a better sense of their own needs). But then Boston went and impulsively picked up Boeing in that bar and then lied about it to both Boeing and Nick, and it was like, oh, this is a guy who's still totally out of touch with his own feelings. Like, we the viewers might deduce that hearing Nick's list of couple-y things he wanted to do together triggered Boston's fight or flight reflex and filled him with an overpowering need to escape that drove him to hit on Boeing, but I don't think BOSTON is aware that that's what was going on in his brain. From his perspective, he just does these things that have ruinous social consequences without knowing why he does them, and then afterwards he's like "why did I do that?" (Or occasionally, "Why is everyone making such a big deal about the fact that I did that?")

TLDR, I feel like he could really benefit from some good therapy! But Nick was not wrong to clock that right now, he's not ready for the level of commitment Nick wants/needs. (Even if he does genuinely love Nick. And Nick genuinely loves him.)

Their scenes together later in the episode (Nick rebuffing Boston's attempted kiss at new years, Nick declining Boston's photo gift) made my heart hurt in a good way, because who hasn't lived through that part of a breakup? In general, Boston's yearning/lost energy in these scenes made me feel for him so much. I've glanced briefly at socmed, and it seems like a lot of people are coming away from this episode feeling like the narrative served him up an unhappy ending as punishment for his supposed sins? But his ending didn't strike me as any kind of authorial condemnation of his character, just a snapshot of a young guy at a time in his life when he's supremely adrift, that I'd hazard a guess is based on someone's actual experience of being that age.

(Again, I would so watch a hypothetical spinoff of him navigating his twenties in New York.)

This is all focusing on Boston so far, but I also really feel for Nick and want him to find happiness in the future, though realistically speaking it might be good for him to work on building up his self-confidence first before getting into another relationship. I think it will probably take him a long time to get over Boston, but many years later, when his heart is less raw, I hope they can be friends again. I love them both so much. <3 #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

TOPMEW

These two continue to be the platonic ideal of that couple who would be mildly insufferable to know in real life, and who in that sense are perfect for each other. They're going to be the first among their friends to get married, and then ten years later they're going to be the first of their friends to get divorced, and in the interim a friend suggested and I absolutely agree that they're going to co-parent a small yappy dog.

I roast them because I love them. But really, I'm proud of them that they're growing (and that Mew has been learning more about himself!), even as I also feel like they're still roleplaying what they think a mature adult relationship should look like when they have these earnest discussions like Should We Move In Together? and Let's Talk About Our Relationship Dealbreakers. It's kind of adorable to watch.

Also adorable: the fact that Top's understanding of Mew's interests starts and ends at "books," and he's so proud to show this knowledge off at every opportunity by e.g. designing a reading nook for him

I also really liked how their sex scene against the bookshelves was so much more spontaneous and organic and no doubt hotter to both of them than their Slow and Gentle First Time had been. (The upside of playing things by ear instead of living your life according to carefully plotted milestones!) The sex may have involved Top manhandling Mew, but I hope that in the future they also explore their mutual kink for Mew being mean to Top and bossing him around. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

SANDRAY

First, great choice on Ray's part to suggest a three-way pool makeout. A terrible idea that was so hot to watch. It's for the best that Sand snapped back to himself before they got any further than kissing, but imagine if he hadn't.

Second, I'm proud of Ray for a) realizing he didn't want Sand to pal around with Boeing, b) telling Sand he didn't want him to pal around with Boeing, and c) telling Boeing to back off Sand. He's come so far in his journey towards emotional literacy!

(I'm also delighted by how sanguine Sand is about being Ray's dog. This should be a thing they explore further, with Ray pampering Sand and giving him treats.)

Third, I love the scene where Mew dares Sand to kiss Top and Sand goes for it 1000% and Mew and Ray are like "very funny, guys ... guys, you can stop now ... NO REALLY GUYS"

Final verdict: the show successfully convinced me that these two can make it work, so I'm happy they're endgame and that they got a lot of sweet moments to just hang out and be happy together in the finale. I'm rooting for their future together, going to music festivals around the world while Ray uses his dad's money to subsidize Sand's artist lifestyle and everyone else they know is like "are these two ever going to get real jobs?" (No.) #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Finally watched the #OnlyFriends finale! I'm going to divide my thoughts into four parts, one general part and then one per ship.

THE SHORT VERSION

I found the ending really satisfying! If we were going to have two couples stay together and one couple break up, these are the ones I would have gone with, and I thought the acting this episode was great from all quarters but especially from Boston and Nick.

Writing-wise, my only real wish is that we'd gotten a glimpse of Boston in New York in the 2024 flashforward, just because I think that was needed structurally -- it doesn't even need to be a full scene, just a shot of him at a club or looking wistfully up at the sky or something. (I also would have enjoyed a shot or two of Nick, but that's less because the narrative demands it and more because Nick is my precious darling.)

Re: the possibility of a sequel, I have no sense of how likely this actually is to happen, but if there was one I'd want it to focus on a mostly new cast (including Mix) with the existing characters showing up as cameos. I would also be down for a spinoff show about Boston finding himself in New York, in an alternate universe where Neo and all the Only Friends writers spoke fluent English and had the budget to film on location halfway across the world, but as it is I'm just going to cross my fingers for someone to write the fanfic version of that. #Caesliveblogging #ThaiBL

And that's a wrap! Re: the next episode preview, Boeing what are you doing. Boeing stop that. (But no, I'm so on board, Saturday can't come soon enough) #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Intake session, take two! Emotional honesty!

Ahhh, Khaotung's acting is so good here

"Ever since you walked into my life, I've been so happy" <33333333

Ahhhhhh T___T This is the sweetest and most heartbreaking imaginary heart-to-heart ever! I hope Ray can manage to say it to Sand's face. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

You're a jerk, Ray's dad, but I appreciate that you at least don't want your son to die like his mom. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Aww <333333333

They see each other at last! Two lonely creeps in love!

Crying while kissing <3

Missing each other so much <3

Having slow and tender make-up sex <33 #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

And now we cut to Boston and Nick. Boston comes across as so uncharacteristically small and sad, curled up on himself on this pier. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

He invited Boeing! Top is so helpless in the face of their mutual wiles. He's not a schemer at heart and he's only now starting to realize this fact, too late. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Mew and Top are near yet another body of water.
Top is like, Mew, have you stopped being mad at me? :)
And Mew is like, No :)
Help, I love them
#OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Ahhh, they're both crying now T_T (The actors' performances are so good here) #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

"Everything I've done is because I care about you!" Sand says.
"No one could possibly care about me!" Ray is clearly thinking.
And then he lashes out, hitting Sand where it hurts most, the way he's so good at doing :( #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Sand: Your dad did hire me, but I did also genuinely want you to go to rehab, if that helps
Ray: It does not #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Ray looks so luxurious in this bathrobe, I think, before DRAMA breaks out in the form of Ray's dad bribing Sand to help his wayward son. Fandom was right! #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Mew is evidently not ready to sleep with his evil doppelganger. But props to Boeing for giving it a shot. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Boeing is such an agent of chaos. Who or what does he even want, except to sow unhappiness wherever he goes? (Mew just asked the same thing! Apparently Boeing wants to see Top suffer, and has clocked Mew as a promising ally in this cause) #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Evidently Boeing went to the Vegas Theerapanyakul school of homewrecking, as he's now attempting seduction via plant #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging

Oh, Ray is so far out of his comfort zone with this intake therapist. He is not ready to face his own demons, much less talk about them with a total stranger. #OnlyFriends #ThaiBL #Caesliveblogging