Hearstopper - Blog Posts

“I need you to know that

my life is way better

because I met you.”

I wanted to add to this with my experience as a gay teenager who fell in love with a perceived straight guy:

I’m a Charlie kinnie so I can confirm: THATS HOW IT FEELS TO FALL FOR A ‘STRAIGHT’ GUY!!

I was so amazed with him, he was the center of my thoughts most of the time but at the same time I felt so sad. It’s such a strange feeling, loving someone more than I could allow myself to show. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, and I was scared to lose him because I loved him so much.

I wanted to be around him all the time, I longed for him to feel the same but knew in the back of my mind he would never. but like charlie, I was wrong.

For Charlie the moment that ‘changed the friendship to something else’ was the scene at the party where they kissed, and later had a talk about it

For me it was pulling him aside from our friend group and telling him about my feelings, it was when I knew things were going to change between us, for the better or for the worst. After a couple of weeks and some dates he officially became my boyfriend and we kissed.

It may have been an opposite progression from the show but It was still very similar (for my story it might’ve taken longer but it’s still similar)

There are other things that are different, such as the progression of the friendship and relationship and the showing of affection but all in all it’s very similar, and I find comfort in finally seeing representation on how young gay romance actually is, because there’s very little out there that actually got the point of how it is.

For anyone wondering; I’ve known him as a friend for more than a year and we’ve been dating officially for abt 2 and a half months and no, he’s not straight, and yes he started questioning his sexuality at about the same time he met me (which I’m not saying is connected but….)

I love him very much and hope we stay together because honestly I’ve never felt this way towards anyone else, but I am young so idk what’ll happen :/

I think we all agree that Heartstopper is amazing, both cinematic and story wise. But in my opinion one of the greatest things it accomplished is portraying pure, romantic love. Of course like most people that watched the show I felt incredibly lonely after, but I also felt at peace for the first time in forever. Somehow, I was always scared of falling in love because most relationships portrayed in the media focus on the physical and sexual aspect, which sometimes makes you forget that love is so much more.

Heartstopper managed to make me want to fall in love again and I love the show all the more for it.