Alex and Felix (LGBT) ✅

Author's Note

And that is the end!

A&F was actually one of three stories I started when I first created this wattpad account back in September 2014. It was probably a bad time to start writing again, given it was the same month I began university, but that's the nature of the muse, I suppose.

Anyway, one of the first LGBT stories I read was based around the 'I'm-gay-he's-straight' trope and I've always been a big fan of misunderstandings and the subsequent revelations so I loved those stories. It was a given that, eventually, I was going to write my own take on this trope. I twisted it slightly to have a bi character as, when I first planned this, I wanted to explore biphobia in the LGBT community.

There were a lot of things that changed from the first draft to the final version you can see uploaded here. Alex and Felix don't end up together, Marcus and Imogen are introduced as secondary characters, and the biphobia aspect isn't explored as fully as I planned it to be originally. I feel that the changes add more to the story, though, and are more suited to what I wanted to create so I'm pretty happy with the end result.

If you've read and enjoyed the book, please let me know! I love comments, votes or just seeing you've added it to your reading lists.

Mickey

If you're curious about what happens to the characters, I'll let you know what I think!

In my head, Alex and Marcus become that couple, the one that's sickeningly sweet and so so strong - you know they're going to make it work. They're the first of them to get married, though they insist on having a long engagement in case they change their minds. No one ever believes they will, and they don't. I like to think of them as family men, the kind who would definitely have a house with the white picket fence and the 2.5 kids, and I think that's in their future once they're financially stable and in the position to have kids and actually spend time with them. They wouldn't make the decision lightly.

Felix goes for his year abroad and meets an American student who is pretty much the embodiment of all of those American stereotypes - he lives on junk food (and his first meal in Thailand is predictably a McDonald's), barely knows what a vegetable is and, of course, can't speak any Thai. It could be annoying in some people but the guy is genuinely so nice, if a little naive, and Felix can't stop calling back home about him - 'like, seriously, Penny, we're stuck in this shopping mall and we can't find the exit even when we follow the signs. And, I kid you not, puppy here goes up to the help desk and yells at them "I want to leave" and then just looks at them like they should understand his thought patterns. Even I was staring at him in confusion.'

They get close while they're in Thailand, and go travelling together in Asia after the school year finishes, and they keep in contact even when they're back in their respective countries. It suprises no one when Felix spends the summer of his third year doing the Camp America programme and then crashing with his puppy until Felix's visa expires. It takes a while to organise but, eventually, he moves permanently to America and enters his first real relationship. I like to think he stays in some kind of teaching role or does outreach programmes because he's the kind of guy who'd be confident with public speaking and dealing with reluctant teenagers. Definitely, if he's working in schools, he's going to be doing so much for LGBT teens.

Scotty surprised me a little. When I tried writing scenes for A&F set a few years after university, I had him in a relationship with an already established couple who had their eight year old child. Considering he's gay throughout university, and very confident in his sexuality, it presented an issue. In the end, I think his sexuality just changes as he explores it more, which I quite liked, because it's certainly something that could happen. The couple are older than him so it raises a few doubts at first but they're in love and they fight to make it work - a few years later, they make their relationship official through a three person marriage and Scotty becomes the proud father of twin girls. He loves his other daughter, too, and they're a happy, if slightly odd, family.

Ellie spends the first few years after uni just working and hanging out with her friends and then 27 creeps up on her and she realises she really needs to start dating. It's a few years of disappointing dates and tinder matches before she finally lets her mother play matchmaker. She's introduced to a man, widowed but ready to open his heart again, and they hit it off immediately. It's a whirlwind romance and Ellie spends a year or two worrying it's going too fast before she learns to just accept a good thing. She has a man who loves her, and she loves him.

Imogen doesn't ever settle down. She doesn't want to and she never feels like she's missing out on anything - she has friends, family and plenty of opportunity to travel to beautiful places, eat good food and live the life she wants. She's happy and satisfied with all she's done.

And, every few years, they all meet up, no matter where they are or what they're doing in life, and they spend a few days just catching up with each other. It's the uni friendship that lasts forever.

Update: I've had a few comments about how people don't like the end pairing of Alex and Marcus. I understand it, I do, and it's entirely valid to feel that way.

I also think that Alex and Felix have chemistry, a real passion between them, and they make sense as a couple. But some people don't want passion, they want stability and certainty and maybe they won't be the kind of people to travel the world or move to a different county but they'll be happy and they'll be in love without any of the drama that comes with passion.

For any of you who have watched New Girl, Jess gets in a relationship with an older man who was previously married. The man's first relationship was volatile and passionate and crazy but they divorced and now he wants stability and certainty. That's Alex, he's always wanted that and he doesn't need to experience passion to know that. He's happy with Marcus, that's his right choice.