Did you know that you had a bad dream again? But I managed to go back to sleep. Thank you.

Queer media really just always be like ✨HANDS✨

She Makes My Heart Flutter (2022) | The Eighth Sense (2023) | The Eighth Sense (2023) | My School President (2022) | Fragrance of the First Flower (2021) | GAP The Series (2022) | A Time Called You (2023) | Moonlight Chicken (2023) | My School President (2022) | Dangerous Romance (2023)

Gif creds: @damnthosewords @tomystars @forcebook @firstkhao @gabrielokun @weiwuxian @liveasbutterflies @mantrisanu @bevioletskies @liyazaki

Part 2/? (Part 1)

cutie

"You said you're open. Are you open enough for me?" ONLY FRIENDS (2023)

I AM SCREAMING RIGHT NOW... Apo.. oh Apo.. Just, thank you. This also explains some of the D/s elements that have been so accurately been portrayed.

it's all about the *hands* (hidden agenda meta)

i really love the focus hidden agenda is putting on hands, and not just in the hand-holding scenes. even when joke and zo's hands aren't the primary focus of the shot, they're almost always doing something interesting - especially in zo's case. although he's tight-lipped and hesitant about his feelings for joke, zo's hands reveal what he dares not admit.

the expressive power of hands

first, let me nerd out a little about how important hands are as conveyors of emotion. earlier this year, i had the opportunity to go to an exhibit displaying the work of french sculptor françois auguste rené rodin, who "almost obsessively explored the expressive power of hands" . he believed that hands could convey just as much, if not more, emotion than facial expressions. he created several hand studies, my favorite of which - "the cathedral" - i've featured below. the sculpture depicts two hands encircled around one another, fingers just about to touch.

you don't need to see anything but the hands in order to get a feeling of romance, anticipation, and desire. in the spirit of these rodin statues, i want to focus just on joke and zo's hands, and how the series has employed them to tell us how joke and zo feel about each other, even when they otherwise mask their feelings.

joke reaches out; zo panics

hidden agenda #1 in this series is joke's plan to get close to zo under the pretense of helping him win over nita. but it's not very well hidden, as many viewers have noted, because joke keeps reaching out and touching zo. most of the time, it's intentional: too afraid to say he likes zo aloud, he uses his hands to tell zo instead.

and you can tell zo receives the message, because every time joke touches him, he Feels Things and freaks out.

what's interesting is that zo isn't freaking out about joke wanting to touch him. he's freaking out because he wants to touch joke. and he has since the beginning.

and when he's not thinking too much about it, he does reach out and touch joke.

unfortunately, zo is an overthinker.

zo's hand gestures are usually precise and deliberate, but when joke flirts, they become nervous and clumsy

another way we see zo's feelings for joke through his hands is how zo's precise gestures become clumsy when he's around joke. zo is a dedicated member of the debate team, and that affects the way he talks and gestures. in promo videos and interviews for the series, dunk has frequently mentioned how he had to practice talking and gesturing in the distinct, formal way people do during debates. he thinks before he speaks, talks slowly, and exaggerates his hand gestures to emphasize what he's saying.

but when he's flustered by what joke says or does, all that debate team training goes out the window. he flails, fidgets, and clutches his hands into fists. because he's nervous - big time.

when things get intimate, zo doesn't touch joke

reflecting his nervousness and hesitancy about his feelings for joke, zo is careful not to touch him when they kiss, nor when he finds their faces centimeters apart when they're sharing a bed.

he doesn't touch joke in these especially heated moments because to do so would be a confession in of itself, and he's not ready for that. but he's working towards it - as he becomes more comfortable with his feelings for joke, he's started to reach out to hold his hand (twice in episode 6).

zo's hands are very dynamic in these two scenes. he's relishing the ability to express how he feels in a way that feels comfortable for him, and he's exploring the new sensation of closeness with joke, finding that he likes it.

so next time he kisses joke, he's not only going to touch joke - he's going to pull him in closer.

💛 thank you for coming into my life ❤️

bonus the aftershocks of the kiss

This kiss was IMMACULATE ! And the fact that Khao improvised it blows my mind.

Gif by @liyazaki

This alone.

Prince Eric

He will be put in a preheated airfyer and fried until golden brown

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