Queer Twilight
is a series of Twilight fanfics by T_E_Reynolds, which retells the events of the series with Bella and many other characters reimagined as LGBTQ. On Bella's first day at Forks High School, Bella is paired in biology with Rosalie, who finds her blood unbearably tempting. Despite that little obstacle, the two begin to develop feelings for each other.
When she's not spending time with Rosalie or dealing with supernatural threats, Bella is hanging out with her friends in Forks and La Push, whose personalities, as well as Bella's relationships with them, get a lot more development and screen time than in canon.
The series consists of:
- A Rose By Any Other Name..., corresponding to the first Twilight book. Completed in 2020.
- An Untimely Frost..., corresponding to New Moon. Ongoing.
- A collection of one-shots on the backstories of the characters. So far, three of a planned five have been written.
Provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: In An Untimely Frost, Bella finds out about the wolves much sooner after the ones she knows personally start phasing, so she doesn't have time to feel rejected or betrayed by them withdrawing.
- Adaptational Badass: Carlisle spent his early years as a vampire successfully fighting off vampires that tried to feed on humans around London.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Esme, Leah, and Sam are all trans; Eric is nonbinary.
- Adaptational Heroism: Unlike in canon, Laurent actually succeeds in swearing off human blood after joining the Denalis. When he shows up in Forks, it's to check on Bella at Alice's request.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Renée refuses to accept that Bella is gay and has a girlfriend. In the ensuing fallout, it's also revealed that she lied extensively about the circumstances of her split from Charlie to make herself look better and him worse.
- Adaptational Job Change:
- Charlie is now the fire chief, not the police chief.
- Esme is a teacher at the elementary school in Forks.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Lauren Mallory here is a sarcastic-but-friendly girl who has nothing against Bella, in contrast to her canon counterpart.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Many non-canon romantic pairings (see Promoted to Love Interest).
- Bella and Jacob are already good friends at the start of the story, and there's no romantic tension between them.
- Leah and Sam’s relationship has been over for two years, and ended much less dramatically than in canon, when he came out as trans and she realized she couldn't be with a man romantically; they're now Amicable Exes. Meanwhile, Sam's relationship with Emily formed naturally with no magical bond involved.
- With Bella and Edward no longer Love Interests, he has a similar relationship to her as Rosalie did in canon, resenting the danger to the family (and to Bella herself) that her relationship with Rosalie represents. Though as of the second book, he seems to be warming up to her.
- Bella is closer friends with the Forks human kids, and shows more genuine enjoyment in hanging out with them.
- Tara Galvaz is good friends with Lauren, and in An Untimely Frost, becomes part of the main friend group as a result.
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- Bella and Rosalie, of course. By the same token, Edward and Emmett.
- Esme is still Happily Married to Carlisle in the present, but the love of her human life was a woman.
- Lauren is also portrayed as bisexual or pansexual; she's seen dating boys, mentions having asked out Rosalie in the past, and is attracted to Leah.
- Almost Kiss: Bella and Leah share one in An Untimely Frost, which is interrupted by an incoming phone call.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Charlotte, the asylum worker who turned Alice, as seen in Remembrance of Things Past. Her religious or ethnic background is never explicitly discussed, but she gives Alice a six-pointed star necklace that's been passed down in her family from mother to daughter.
- Cargo Envy: Lauren after watching Leah ride off on her Cool Bike.Lauren: I’ve never wanted to be a motorcycle so badly in my life. She can ride me anytime.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Bella is slowly regaining consciousness in the ballet studio and thinks she's dead, she muses that even hell would be better than just an endless void, since at least they might have bad books.
- The Cracker: James is skilled at computer hacking, and puts those skills to use when he and Victoria are hunting Bella.
- Gender Flip: Embry and Quil are both girls in this fic, while Eric is nonbinary.
- In Spite of a Nail: In An Untimely Frost, the wolves and the Cullens are on much better terms, and are even prepared to work together to take down James. What's more, Rosalie never claimed she didn't love Bella, as Edward did when he left in canon. Unfortunately, that's not enough to prevent Bella from having to rush to Volterra to save Rosalie's life, with only one Cullen there for support.
- Lady in a Power Suit: Rosalie wears one on a couple of occasions, much to Bella's delight.
- Nephewism: Mike lives with his Aunt Sadie. It's eventually established that his mom died in an accident years back, while his dad was never involved in raising him.
- Oh, Crap!: Leah's reaction when she realizes that that "lady from the cable company" was Rosalie and that she just made her think Bella was dead.
- Our Vampires Are Different: The fic mostly follows Twilight canon, but there are a few changes. Vampires retain human taste sensations and can eat human food (though it doesn't nourish them), have fangs that extend when they're about to bite someone, and take only 24 hours to turn rather than the canon 72.
- Promoted to Love Interest:
- Rosalie for Bella, obviously. Leah is also heading in this direction, taking on the role of Jacob from canon.
- Edward and Emmett are also made a couple, in order for Rosalie to be the only single Cullen in the present day.
- Charlie and Billy also become a couple.
- Eric and Ben are revealed to be dating in the sequel.
- Role Swap AU:
- Edward and Rosalie's roles in the story are swapped.
- James and Victoria swap powers and roles, with her being the Scarily Competent Tracker who hunts Bella. Although it turns out James has his own agenda that has nothing to do with her.
- For a minor example, Jasper replaces Alice as the one who returns to Forks after the Cullens think Bella might be dead. Their idea was that, if it turned out to be true, he could use his power to help Charlie make it through the initial shock.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: How Carlisle and Esme's relationship began. They started out posing as husband and wife as part of their human cover story, but ended up falling in love for real.
- Second Love:
- Carlisle and Esme are this to each other; both had spouses in their human lives that they loved deeply, who died before they were turned.
- Charlie and Billy; the former was previously married to Renee, while the latter's wife died several years ago.
- Setting Update: The story begins in 2015, ten years later than the canon books. It only comes up when the characters use smartphones, or when they mention things that didn't exist in the 2000s, such as when Bella, needing a cover story to leave Forks when fleeing Victoria, claims she and Rosalie scored tickets to Hamilton.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In An Untimely Frost, the wolves chase off Laurent but don't kill him, since he didn't come there to eat anyone. As a result, he's still alive as of chapter 18.
- Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: Esme. She spent her human life publicly presenting as a man, but when her body was rebuilding itself as she turned, it took on a form that matched her inner self-image.
- They Would Cut You Up: Mentioned as the reason the werewolves can't go to the hospital if they get seriously injured fighting vampires.
- Wrench Wench:
- Rosalie, as in canon.
- Jacob's mom is said to have been the one who taught him to fix cars before she died.
