Fanart of Kakashi and Iruka from Naruto kissing in the hokage office on a break. It felt soft and warm. At the time I hadn’t dated anybody and was a known prude who kept my confusion to myself. But seeing them felt reassuring somehow. I never became a huge kakairu fan, but I kept seeing really pretty Japanese fanart of boys kissing each other. Then I discovered entire manga where characters I thought were gay, were given their gay stories. It was liberating and has now come to the point that if some fiction is not gay I’m not interested. I found that BL is generally well written compared to most heterosexual stories. With hets I feel it’s a huge either/or with sexual and SFW themes, you almost never see the two themes together which kind of results in less immersion. BL takes the more holistic approach to relationships and how they come with the physical components and emotional components together and not separate like heterosexual romances. The tension between Naruto and Sasuke is undeniable to this day. This was back in 2012-13. Other than that there was the Free!! series which I also love because the character design is gorgeous and everyone seemed to be into it.
— 21, They/Them, Cambodia
21, THEY/THEM, CAMBODIA
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