1. Merlin
Do you like the enemies-to-lovers vibe of Heated Rivalry? Then you’ll love Merlin. Imagine if hockey were sword fighting, and only one of them could actually do it. Also, gayness = magic, maybe I think. All joking aside, this is a beautifully done TV show, but those guys are definitely flirting with each other hard. If you want that yearning and secret keeping from Heated Rivalry, but without the sex—or the canon queer relationship—then you gotta watch Merlin. The ending is also not sad at all, and I most certainly did not cry watching this show… 10/10 watch btw.
2. Stranger Things
Did you watch the cottage episode and have a hunger to watch other beautiful coming-out scenes that deal with the subject and characters with the respect they deserve? This show has one of the most beautiful coming-out scenes ever! It’s totally not a disrespect to the entire queer community, and it’s definitely normal to have your closeted character in the 80’s come out to basically their entire town. If you want real, emotional queer characters and requited queer love, this is the show for you. One of the main queercharacters absolutely did not get mega-friend-zoned with the cruel words: “Friends? No, best friends”.
3. Hannibal
If you liked the rivalry aspect of Heated Rivalry, boy, do I have a show for you. This show is about a totally normal rivalry between two totally normal people. They definitely don’t want to eat each other. Who said that? There is absolutely no murder at all, and if there was, it’s actually part of the average homoerotic bro-lationship to frame your friend for murder. It’s basically the same as Heated Rivalry; there’s even a sex scene framed to show that the men want to be with each other and not a woman. Watch Hannibal like a rom-com, so you won’t be scarred by the horrifying imagery and won’t sleep for two weeks like me.
4. Voltron
If you like clear and canon bisexual representation, you’re gonna love Voltron. At no point did the creators actively tease the audience with Lance’s queerness. He was NOT the only “straight” character in their Pride Month post. There’s also a good enemies-to-lovers queer storyline. They actually never become the lovers part of that in Voltron, but like, we all know they were gay for each other. Watch this show with the vision that Ilya chooses to marry Svetlana, and then she just dies. All in all, this show was so amazing that fans tried to feed the creators glass.
5. Supernatural
Now, Supernatural is very similar to Heated Rivalry, if instead of Ilya going to the cottage, you have Castiel going to Superhell. Dean and Castiel nail that ten-year situationship and those gay, yearning eyes. I’m not kidding, every time they are on screen together, they’re just staring deeply at each other. The writers of Supernatural, just like the writers of Heated Rivalry, give us a beautiful queer storyline with a happy ending… oh. Yeah, maybe just ignore the ending of Supernatural, we don’t claim it as a fandom. The saving grace is that it’s not entirely queerbait! Castiel did confess his love for Dean–just ignore the getting sent to Superhell right after business. So…#canon.
Did you enjoy Heated Rivalry? Here are 5 totally real, legit queer shows to watch next!
