#real person shipping

[sparrowssally]

*cracks knuckles* Yet another PSA about the Tennant and Sheen families…

Alright, here goes it. I don’t give a fuck if you ship Aziraphale and Crowley. I’m a huge shipper of them myself, so it’s all good! Love them, want the world for them, etc etc. HOWEVER, if you want to:

1. ship David and Michael romantically

2. want to use shipping David and Michael as an excuse to be blatantly misogynistic against their respective partners (Georgia and Anna)

3. want to allege that they are being “trapped” in their marriage by their partners “strategically” having kids

Then get the fuck off my blog. Seriously. There’s no place for you here.

You’re literally hoping that David Tennant, a man with five kids, will leave his wife of 12 years (whom he clearly loves) to end up in a hyper-sexual romantic relationship with Michael Sheen, who would also have to leave his partner as well, with whom he has two young children and who he seems very happy with. You’re literally wanting happy families to get broken apart so that your selfish ship can sail. It’s disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I get wanting to have queer representation, it’s greatly needed and there is always room for more of it. However, wanting to assign a queer identity to someone who hasn’t publicly acknowledged that they identify that way is NOT okay. I don’t care who they are, celebrity or not. If you want to see queer representation, then Aziraphale and Crowley are RIGHT THERE. Don’t wreck real people’s relationships with their partners—and their friendship with each other—just because you want your ship to sail. If for some reason David and/or Michael want to come out in the future on their own, then that’s for them to do when they feel comfortable, and speculating about their identities without them saying anything is just weird and gross.

AND ANOTHER THING! All y’all who write essay-long posts analyzing every single social media thing about Michael, David, Georgia, and Anna: y’all need to get a fucking life. Go outside. Touch grass. PLEASE stop treating these very real people like they’re puppets in your grand romance story. I guarantee you that their lives are probably not NEARLY as fascinating and scandal-filled as what you think they are. And believe it or not—because I know y’all LOVE to use this as “evidence”—people are allowed to not be all smiley and lovey-dovey in selfies and photos with their partners, and for many people, teasing their partners is part of their relationship! *gasp* I know right?? Shocking. It literally doesn’t mean anything that Georgia and David tease each other or that Michael and Anna tease each other, and that they all occasionally aren’t smiling in photos with each other. That’s normal person behavior and I’m begging y’all to understand that.

I know this post probably isn’t going to be seen by the weirdo people who need to see it the most, but whatever. I just really needed to get this off my chest.

#david tennant #michael sheen #psa #good omens #good omens fandom #georgia tennant #anna lundberg #real person shipping #RPS #real person fanfiction #david x michael #michael x david

[martinsharmony]

In defense of RP Shipping and RP Fiction

I don’t normally come out and give my opinion on things like this so plainly about such controversial things. I tend to shy away from confrontational writing such as this. However this idea has been brewing in my mind for some time now so I had to write it.

I am a Real Person Shipper.

I’m seeing people talk a lot more about RP shipping (and the hate towards it) since David Tennant and Michael Sheen appeared smiling at each other in a photo after David's appearance in Macbeth.

RP Shipping is not a choice.

When I caught the shipping bug, it hit me like lightning. It occurred to me one night as I lay in bed next to the husband with which I had a deteriorating relationship: “are there stories about Dave Gahan and Martin Gore…being together??”

Dave Gahan/Martin Gore (Gahore) are in Depeche Mode. They were my 1st ship as an adult. You can read about it here. Obviously Depeche Mode is a band so there is no fictional narrative anywhere to follow. I quickly learned that RP shipping was taboo. However in my shipping community we all shipped the band so I was more or less insulated from it.

I dove in headfirst. I literally couldn’t not do it. It was something my brain needed. Sure I could have forced myself to not go look for it because of some kind of moral (?) imperative which I wasn’t even aware of at the time, but even if I stopped myself, that would not stop my brain from wanting it. Making up stories and scenarios. Finding evidence in videos, songs, interviews, etc. I shipped these two people because of what I had observed between them.

I saw love. So did my shipping friends. We all saw it. I needed to experience it. My life lacked it.

My next RP ship was Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch (FreeBatch). First I fell in love with Sherlock and John, obviously. But then as I started to follow the fandom, I started noticing the same things that others noticed. My brain just went there. I literally had no choice. It’s not as if I could tell my brain “don’t do that”. It would not listen. You can’t tell a starving person to not think about food. In fact telling them that probably makes it worse.

In my personal life, I had been through a breakup with the man I dated after I got divorced, and then I began dating a woman for the 1st time. I really started to relate what I was seeing on the screen and reading on Tumblr and in fic to my own life. I was starting to process my own bisexuality. I started to notice things about Martin and Ben that other people were noticing too. Shipping them helped me navigate that time in my life because I saw myself in it. I related to it. But it wasn't a choice. My brain just went there. Maybe I was Baader-Meinhoffing but even if I was, that doesn’t mean it’s something I didn’t need to explore, work out in my mind, and discover.

Shennant (Michael Sheen and David Tennant) is my 3rd RP ship. Yes I fell in love with Aziraphale and Crowley of course, but again, as I started to follow the fandom and David’s and Michael’s careers specifically, watching interviews, watching Staged, etc, I started noticing the same thing that many others noticed. I literally couldn’t help it. My brain, again, just went there. Also in Staged of course, they play themselves. I have to say that my RP Shipping really took off after I watched them in that. They play themselves. Their actual partners are in it. If one were to write Staged fic, is that not RPF? Where is the line between what is supposed to be okay and what is not?

Again, with this ship, I had big things going on in my personal life. Dad passed away almost a year and a half ago, and now I'm taking care of my elderly mom long distance. It's a huge emotional burden. I'm not dating anyone right now mostly because of that but also because I was in a poly relationship with the male half of a het married couple (longtime friends of mine) that ended extraordinarily painfully (so this was V or chain-style poly not group-sex poly). Since then I've been alone for more than 2 years. I'm still getting over it.

The love I see between Michael and David feels unconditional. I see adoration. If they are indeed in a healthy poly relationship, my god, how on earth did they do that? Even while navigating fame? It’s certainly a lot more difficult than my own situation. I can explore it: What kind of person feels safe to me the way I believe David feels safe with Michael? What kind of relationship can withstand the kind of obstacles they (and I) might face? What would have had to actually happened for them to be as happy as they seem to be? What discussions were had? What agreements were reached? How does one do this the right way? What does that tell me about my own relationship and what went wrong? What should have happened?

This is, in its most academic sense, a tool for my brain to heal and to discover what kind of a relationship I want. And my brain knows it. That’s why it ships. My heart doesn’t know that. It just knows I love seeing them happy together. This is the magnet that drew me.

RP Shipping helps us to work shit out in our personal lives.

I bought Spark edited by Atlin Merrick recently. One of the essays by Angela Nauss, LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) really stood out to me is titled Sympathy for the Devil: Attachment Theory and FanFiction.

The article is about fanfiction authors, however I would extrapolate this to include readers and RP Shippers as well. RP Shippers are authors of narratives in their own mind, even if they are not always written down.

From the book:

“Fanfiction authors process attachment wounds using fictional characters as proxies…to process and understand the origin of the problems encountered during adolescence.”

“Some authors write fanfiction to humanize uncomfortable aspects of their identity, grieve and repair damaged relationships, and process attachment wounds…by exploring how the character would behave in adaptive relationships.”

“Fanfiction authors project their unconscious trauma onto the characters.”

“The characters gain insight into their behavior and no longer feel responsible for their childhood attachment wounds. Through their writing, the author incorporates repressed trauma and attachment wounds into their conscious experience and achieves catharsis.”

“Writing fanfiction is a valid form of therapeutic self-exploration.”

I’ve been in therapy for several years, In fact the poly relationship I was in is why I seeked out therapy in the 1st place. I know that shipping these people, exploring aspects of that, is helping me to heal attachment wounds and the trauma caused by past relationships.

As part of my healing from this poly relationship I was in, I intend to write a meta and/or a fic about David and Michael. I know it will aid in my healing. I may or may not post it.

Also, even Shakespeare wrote RPF.

I’m seeing people say that we RP Shippers are terrible, immoral, disgusting, gross people and that we want David and Michael to leave their partners. That we want to break up their families. Let me be clear that I want nothing of the sort.

There are people out there that want to "protect" them from this “immorality” by shaming us, berating us, calling us names. Even sending certain blogs directly to Georgia and Anna! This is the exact opposite of what actions like this are actually doing. This does not protect them from harm. It creates it.

There is no such thing as thought crime.

Not only is it impossible for me to choose not to ship these people, but I also get the sense that even thinking about it is supposed to be wrong. That it makes me an immoral person.

Something I keep seeing is that people are so upset that we RP Shippers are doing this. Like, why don’t we just, stop. Just look at all the other appropriate characters that are out there to ship! Or just never start in the first place. As if this was a choice we are making to consciously ship real people.

When shippers ship a couple, do they choose that couple consciously? Do they say, hmm, I'm going to ship X person and Y person because it's...logical? Or for whatever consciously thought of reason? I'm going to go out on a limb and speak for mostly all shippers and say no. Shippers ship because we see something in those 2 characters that we are drawn to like magnets, for whatever reason. Real People included. If you're on Tumblr for a fandom and read fic, you know what I'm talking about.

Male/Male relationships is a fetish, or a kink, for me. And by extension, RPS/RPF as well. I do enjoy thinking about what might be the "reality" behind the curtain that we are shown as part of their public personas. This is part of the ingredients to this fetish, or kink, for me.

Kink is defined by Wikipedia as “the use of non-conventional sexual practices, concepts or fantasies. The term derives from the idea of a “bend” (a “kink”) in one’s sexual behaviour, to contrast such behaviour with “straight” or “vanilla” sexual mores and proclivities. It is thus a colloquial term for non-normative sexual behaviour.”

A fetish is defined by Wikipedia as referring “to any sexually arousing stimuli, not all of which meet the medical criteria for fetishism. This broader usage of fetish covers parts or features of the body (including obesity and body modifications), objects, situations and activities (such as smoking or BDSM).”

Generally, modern sexual health thinking seems to say “So long as your fetish doesn’t get in the way of your own well-being, the safety of others, and your partners participate enthusiastically, there is nothing wrong with it.”

It seems to be another taboo to claim gay (or bi/pansexual) men as a fetish, or a kink. There are some who claim that it’s objectifying the very real experiences of gay men. I struggle with this because I can't deny that I enjoy it but I also don't want to hurt anyone.

I am not a gay man. I will never be a gay man. I am a cis bisexual woman. I can never know what that experience is like. This is, in essence, the core of the fantasy. It can feel as good and perfect and romantic and loving as I want it to be because I don’t have the parts or experience to know it first hand. Therefore I've come to the conclusion that my thoughts in my head and anything I write down in a safe space does not hurt anyone. For me personally, it’s a way to disconnect from myself. People enjoy fic for all sorts of reasons. I shouldn’t have to prove that my reasons are "wholesome" to be allowed to enjoy it.

I don’t enjoy reading het fiction for reasons I won’t go into, however they are probably not individual to just me alone. Hoards of women like me also enjoy the same thing.

So yeah. To the surprise of absolutely no one, thinking about Michael and David, or Martin and Ben, or Dave and Martin, or men in general, kissing or having sex or a romance with each other – turns me on. That leads me to state the following:

Anti-RP Shipping and Anti-RP Fiction is kink shaming.

When I say "Anti", I'm referring to those who loudly object to it. Not those who (thankfully) say "that's not for me" and move on. Just like I would with say, Omegaverse.

Because my interpretation of these real people is in reality, “fiction” in my own head, then by definition all RP Shipping is RP Fiction. It cannot be reality because I don’t know them. Therefore any stories, speculation, comments, analysis, conclusions, art, etc, IS ALL FICTION.

Real people are characters to your brain.

Obviously I don’t know them personally, so anything that I were to believe or create in my head about them is by definition, fiction. My brain makes it up according to what I’ve seen, read, heard, observed and drew conclusions from. This creates a fictional reality for my brain to consume. It can’t be reality because I don’t know them.

Wikipedia says RPF writers are “building a fictional universe based on the supposed real-life histories of their idols. Information from interviews, documentaries, music videos, and other publicity sources are assimilated into the stories. It is also very popular to write fiction about celebrity couples. Communities of writers build collective archetypes based on the celebrities' public personas".

I would never, under any circumstances, present any RPS/RPF questions, stories, insinuations, or even mention it at all directly to the actors/musicians/personalities or their partners or even anyone associated with them. I would be beyond embarrassed to do so. Even though Michael himself seems to be accepting of it, I would never present it to him. Never. (I mean it’s not like I could really anyway but still).

I believe that 99.9% of RP Shippers would do the same. It’s the .01% that have done so (and unscrupulous “journalists” looking to shock by asking questions/showing them the RPF, and those people claiming to prevent harm by sending it directly to them “for legal action” or tattletale “look at what these terrible people are doing” and blaming the RP shippers for creating it – wow talk about projection) -that make a bad name for us all. Showing it to them and asking them about it IS a choice.

If RP Shipping is not a choice, a way to work out personal mental health issues, is fictional by definition, and a non-pathological aid to sexual excitement that hurts no one if it is contained within safe spaces such as fic sites and Tumblr, then what exactly is the harm?

Tumblr is a safe space.

Why is there such vitriol against RP Shipping and RPF? You claim to be protecting the actors or people in question, but by raising your voices so loudly in various ways, you are harming the very person you claim to be protecting. I think you have to ask what it is within yourself that makes you so aggressively hate this? Why can't we just say "that's not for me" and move on?

Don't we on Tumblr and on AO3 celebrate non-mainstream ideas such as this? Or if not celebrate, at least live and let live. The fact is that Tumblr is supposed to be a safe space. I should feel safe speaking my mind here. I know quite a few RP shippers follow me so I don't feel completely alone, but I don't feel entirely safe posting this.

My morality is not yours to police.

I strongly doubt I’ll be changing anyone’s mind with this. If you’re Anti RP shipping and Anti RPF you’re probably going to stay that way.

Don’t like, don’t read.

You can unfollow, block people, block tags, filter tags on AO3...any number of things. Think of it like a trigger. Just please don't spew hate.

#rps #rpf #good omens rpf #sherlock rpf #gahore #gahore rpf #real person shipping #real person fiction #dave gahan #martin gore #depeche mode #benedict cumberbatch #martin freeman #freebatch #sherlock #good omens #shennant #sheenant #ineffable lovers #david tennant #michael sheen #shipping discourse #shipping discussion #rp shipping #my posts

[oranjeleeuw]

Dear god I feel old that it has to be explained in tags and posts that you don't really mean that your rpf is based on truth and those people are actually together.

Like. It's just the adult version of play pretend, we're having fun, writing endless what ifs.

We're having a coffee break at work and imagining the lives of those pigeons on the other side of the road jumping around the trash, it's not more serious than that

#I'm only 25 I shouldn't feel old in fandoms but alas #rpf #real person shipping #f1 #f1 rpf #Carlando #lestappen

[thereallovebug]

People are allowed to post whatever they like on their own blog but this example of gatekeeping virtue-signaling really chaps my ass. I don’t recall getting any memo *checks notes* announcing that someone has been assigned boss of the GO fandom in order to pass judgement on fellow fans based on who they ship. I’ve written about this before, so I’ll just add the link here:

#good omens #fan wankery #good omens 2 #proshipping #real person shipping #smells like homophobia to me #what are fan ethics anyway and who decides what those are? #don’t hassle them they’re allowed their opinion #doesn’t mean I have to agree with it

[hugintheraven]

Let's poll RPF

Not the morality debate, that's been done to death and is honestly uninteresting to me. But what is Real-Person Fic/Real-Person Shipping? Or, more specifically, what qualifies as a real person?

Because obviously Tony Stark is fictional, while your friend Antony is a real person. But past that point, everything gets blurry. Like professional wrestlers, who are playing a created character along a prewritten storyline, but are doing so unscripted and often under their real name and as a reflection of their real fake fighting capabilities. Plenty of bands and Twitch Streamers have played out fake drama for the media attention, which is basically the same thing except less openly fake.

Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report was clearly playing a parody of a far-right news personality, but did so with his real name and background. And when he moved to the Late Show, he's still putting on a fake personality there, just like every other famous person when the cameras are on them(you can't act like you do in front of your family on the red carpet, or vice versa). But when that's the case, how is that different from the barista who smiles while mentally stabbing every person in line?

And then there's stuff like George Washington. We have an IRL historical figure, a mythological figure that resembles a demigod more than a human, and the version from various fictional media(Hamilton et al). If someone writes fics based on each of those versions, which are RPF? And, once you answer that, do you think the same answers apply to Mulan?

So, the point of this post. Here's a list of options, from most fictional to most real. At which point do you consider it to be RPF. Note: I DO NOT CARE whether you approve of shipping it or not, the question is just at what entry in the poll would you think it needs a tag/warning/whatever. Please vote for the first you think is RPF, we can assume that means everything past that point is also RPF(because that's the only way to poll this on this site).

Please reblog, I'll be tagging this with RPF related stuff, but I want everyone's opinions of this. And feel free to go in-depth in the tags/RBs on your nuances, "At what point does someone become fictional" is a rather hefty question for a Tumblr poll.

#Polls #Poll #tumblr polls #RPF #real person fiction #real person shipping #philosophy

[smoshpvnk]

words that should not be used seriously with rpf: proof, truth, evidence, speculation, harassment

#pro rpf #txt #rpf #p #real person fiction #real person shipping #shipping

[nirinnnnn]

cheek to cheek

#vasily livanov #vitaly solomin #vlvs #rps #fanart #real person shipping

[jollysunflora]

What is the appeal in your favorite ships?

Whether romantic or platonic, real person fiction or fictional characters, what makes you like the ship? I'm trying to figure the relationship dynamics that connects all ships together. May make a system out of it, like how I did a quadrant expansion regarding homestuck ships...

#real person shipping #shipping #fandoms #quadrants #relationships #sociology #fanon #canon #hs #homestuck #rpf

[darksideoftheshipps]

Why are you such a bitch to me?! 😂✨

And also who do you ship the most from Bad Omens?

Because, my dear Karel. WE FUCKIN LIVE UNDER ONE ROOF! And you aren't able to ask me face to face what's my fav ship from Bad Omens??? Hmm? HMMM? :'))))

But I tell it to you anyway 🔥

I like to talk about my fav ships.

So...

I ship them all. PolyOmens 💜

But my matter of the heart is Noah/Jolly💜

They are sweethearts

#jolly karlsson #bad omens #noah Sebastian #jolly karlsson/noah sebastian #ship #real person shipping #Torri answers

[thebroccolination]

Is it bad to ship couples irl?! As I reallly ship boun and prem even though they’re most likely not together but the things they do for each other is perfect!!

Hi, Anon! You're gonna get a long answer to this, because I think the subject of shipping real people is one that deserves more nuance than just "it's bad" or "it's fine"! This is something I've wanted to write about for a long time, so I apologize for using your ask as a jumping-off point!

So, okay, I think there are two main conversations to have: 1) whether shipping real people itself is moral, and 2) how one should publicly conduct oneself when engaging in shipping culture in Thai fandom.

Is It Moral?

I think the most important thing to consider when shipping real people is what those people themselves feel about it. If they've expressed or showed discomfort with being shipped, then at that point, I'd scale back completely. Part of the fun of shipping for most people is the "oooh" mystery factor, and if someone straight-up goes, "Knowing that people are envisioning me engaging romantically with another person makes my skin crawl," then I simply wouldn't enjoy it anymore. Shipping people who don't want to be shipped just isn't my thing.

Now, if they seem cool with it, then the five main things I'd consider are: how old they are, how experienced they are in their industry, whether their place of work (agency/studio/etc.) has a history of exploiting its artists, whether one person looks less comfortable than the other, and whether or not they seem to fully understand and consent to the implications of shipping culture.

For BounPrem specifically, they're both in their mid-late twenties. They've been in the industry for over five years at this point, so they're adults who are well-versed in the industry and know full well what shipping culture is and its implications. They're also both regularly and demonstrably comfortable with fans shipping them. (For example: Prem in this entire video, Boun asking fans to write BounPrem fic for Valentine's Day, taking part in the joke about people "asking for" Prem, etc.)

On the structural side of things, Prem left his agency last autumn (on amicable terms) and has been independent since, so he's very much operating on his own terms right now. Boun is under Wabi Sabi, which is a small agency whose CEO, New Siwaj, is openly queer and fiercely protective of his artists' boundaries and reputations. New has gone on record multiple times saying he doesn't require or prod anyone working for him to do fanservice if they don't want to. New has also hired legal representation to combat the consistent homophobic hate speech against his artists (including Boun, who is far and away their artist with the largest following). New and his company have repeatedly proved they prioritize and respect their artists.

However! BounPrem do have boundaries, and they've been clear about them. When asked if they're dating, their most common answer is that if they do date, they'll neither confirm nor deny. ("We won't make it public, but we won't hide it either.") They're not the only ones to say this, and I think it's the smart route to take as far as marketing and protecting their privacy if they ever do date.

Certain interviewers seem to have crossed BounPrem's boundaries in the past, and fans have teased Boun for being possessive or jealous because he won't let anyone touch Prem. However, and this is purely speculation on my part, Boun recently commented that Prem hasn't always spoken up when he encounters problems, so he's been taken advantage of, so I think Boun has often taken it upon himself to stand up for Prem. Especially if he senses that someone is using Prem's quiet nature to their benefit and touching him in a way he knows Prem wouldn't consent to.

Essentially, Prem might not say something, but Boun absolutely will. He has a sharp tongue when he needs to use it, and he's not shy about reasserting boundaries where he himself or Prem is involved.

All that aside, we're human, and humans are curious. People like love, and they like people they care about to find love. So, y'know, shipping culture, when done respectfully, can be fun and doesn't have to be invasive.

Okay, So How to Not Be Invasive About It?

I'm not actually very useful here because I prefer to employ generous use of the fourth wall. It's just more fun for me to enjoy shipping among friends, so I don't really engage publicly.

However! For conduct in Thai BL fandom, I'd defer to the advice of Southeast Asian fans. It's their fandom, and shipping is part of their fandom culture. From what I've seen and heard, shipping is meant to be lighthearted fun, and using the worst examples of stalking and poor behavior isn't especially cool of anyone. Basically, Western fans swinging in on an Indiana Jones rope to lecture Asian fans for engaging in shipping culture are disrespecting a fandom in which they're guests and detracting from the overall experience for others.

Now, of course, if one's brand of shipping involves digging into the artists' personal lives, stalking their families or loved ones, feeling entitled in any way to literally anything other than what they're freely offering up, making the pair such a part of your personality that finding out one of them is dating someone else or just flat-out uninterested in their partner will ruin your mental health, then that's a hard no. In those cases, I'd sincerely examine what Missing Aspect of one's life shipping has become a toxic substitute for. There's absolutely no shame in self-reflection, mitigating the harm that can be mitigated, and moving forward with more respect.

So, like:

• "o no, @.bb0un hasn't seen @.prem_space in two hours, someone better send him photos to remind him what prem looks like" O

(Obvious teasing tones are common both among fans and the artists themselves. BounPrem are famous for being ridiculous, so it fits the mood they themselves have established.)

• "Giant*, do you miss your parents? #bb0un #prem_space #bounprem" O *Boun's dog

(Again, BounPrem themselves have played into the co-parenting-our-pets thing, so playing along is fine.)

• "@.bb0un @.prem_space are you gay" X

(Asking anyone their sexuality is not okay, not even when they're famous. It's none of your business, full stop. Don't. Do not. Stop. Desist.)

• "i spotted bounprem together outside work in their private time and took this very creepy video of them from underneath a parked car using a telescope lens that i bought specifically for my recreational stalking hobby dm me for higher resolution videos!" X

(I feel like I could have made this a little heavier-handed for fun but you get the gist.)

In conclusion, it's my firm belief that if shipping hurts any real people, not just the pair at the center, then it's an immediate cease and desist for me. But if it's mutual and respectful fun in which everyone knows it's nothing more than a wink-wink game to spice up promotional activities, go (reasonably) wild (within reason)!

Whether BounPrem are actually dating is their business, but they've regularly and enthusiastically embraced shipping culture done on their own terms, so as long as people keep it light and fun and respect their privacy and the privacy of their loved ones, I think you're good!

Have (respectful) fun!

(I just like this photo of them. They got matching Pride nails last year! They're Very Good and regularly politically active in protecting and promoting the rights of queer people. Deep respect. <3)

#kiranokira answers #bounprem #premboun #real person shipping #rpf #fandom talk

[gahantism]

Hello, take my art for my Dark AU I have made for myself.

#self shipping #rpf selfship #dave gahan #depeche mode #real person shipping #real person fiction #my art #self insert

[martinsharmony]

Thank you for your RPF post. I agree. I wake up thinking of scenarios for DT/MS. They're just there, in my head, being in love and content. And I need them there. I need to know that even middle aged queers can find love, that lives adapt, that finding new love doesn't mean abandoning established love.

I need to see happy, older queers thriving in our bigoted, hateful world. Because I don't get to have that happy ending myself. And because young questioning queers need to see it, know they have a chance. To know that not everyone finds their someone(s) in high school or college. To know that everyone's path and timeline are different.

And MS and DT are such lovely people, inside and out, truly kind and giving and they deserve happiness in whatever shape that takes. It warms my poor, injured heart to see them gazing at one another adoringly, their softness for each other plain on their faces. To see them choose to be in each other's lives over and over. Like, how wonderful! How can someone hate on that? They're little bright spots in my cloudy world.

My shipping them with never affect them. I don't know them, I'm not in their circles, they will never know I exist. If any of them are seeking out the RPF fics, then they are reading them intentionally because they want to. (I'm sure MS has written and submitted some himself based on various interviews over the years.) They aren't fighting allegations of a relationship, they continuously fuel them, even. Something I don't think they'd do if they felt it was harmful to their careers, untrue, or as queerbaiting. They're allies at a minimum, they wouldn't cheapen the lived experiences of other queers for a couple of extra asses in seats at a show.

Anyhow, thank you for your well thought out post and for making me feel seen, even as I hide behind an anonymous ask.

Thank you so, so much for writing this. My apologies in taking so long to respond.

And thank you for saying that my post made you feel seen. I truly appreciate that. RP shippers are the red headed step children in the fandom world. You saying you felt seen by my writing made ME feel seen by your appreciation, and truly by receiving this ask as well.

I agree with you. I have never seen anything so wholesome in my life as the way Michael and David are with each other. They just exude love. It's so pure. I really don't understand the vitriol against it. I mean the majority of our "fuel" comes from them in the 1st place. Plus it's evident when you watch them interact.

I just chalk up the hate to it saying more about them than us.

And yes, of course people can find love at any age and regardless of what state their current relationships are already in. Why should we think they are not with each other because they are each already in relationships? Because they are famous? Because they have kids? That makes no sense. People do it every day.

Yeah no way they are doing this for any kind of "marketing" or whatever, except to provide some kind of narrative that would allow them to hide in plain sight. That way they can be just about as "free" to be themselves and show as much affection toward one another as reasonably feasible. I wish they could feel 100% free to be out in the open with it, but I also realize they probably prefer privacy as well.

I look to them as relationship goals. I hope to someday find someone that I feel as at home with as I believe they feel with each other.

#shennant #sheenant #ineffable lovers #michael loves david #david loves michael #rps #real person shipping #michael x david #david x michael #ask #SlashWhore

[2brosstandingupwhilegaming]

If you like to ship the Party Crashers while keeping it private & safe, you make content like art, fanfiction, edits, & more, or if you just like to talk about them…

Join the unofficial official Party Crashers fan Discord server!

RULES:

• 17+ ONLY. This is non-negotiable, and purely for safety reasons. (Optional nsfw role/channel avaliable for 18+ users)

• SHIPPING MUST BE DONE PRIVATELY. What happens in the server stays in the server. That’s kind of the point.

• SHIPPING MUST BE DONE RESPECTFULLY. All creators' boundaries are adhered to & maintained.

• You dont have to make art of any kind to join!! This is also a space for just talking with other Party Crashers fans.

In this server, people can make things they love with no judgement. Bring your positivity, we could really use some! <3

DM if interested

#vernick #vernick3 #tcvern3 #nickvern #RPF #real person shipping #real person fiction #real person fanfiction #real person fandom #party crashers #vernias #tcnick3 #sophist #king of skill

[thereallovebug]

I’m continually amused by the GO fans who think fans who ship Michael & David are some kind of shameful secret they’re afraid the guys might hear about. Guess what: their PR people (and Georgia) troll the interwebs looking for any mention of them, so not only are they fully aware of the shippers and what they post, they also know about thirst tweets, smutty comments, stalkers, and rude remarks about their bodies.

Don’t like RP shipping? Fine. No one is asking you to read the posts or the fic or whatever.

But what gives anyone the right to wag their finger in the faces of other fans and tell them who they can ship, what they can think, and what they can post? “BuT wHAt aBoUt tHeiR wiVeS anD cHiLdRuN?” is the usual objection. Trust me, if the PR people know about the shipping, so do Michael and David (and by extension, their significant others). If you think it bothers the guys that fans ship them or are worried their kids might someday see it don’t you think they’d tone it down instead sailing that ship every chance they get? (BTW the guys also know about the thirst tweets, smutty comments, stalkers, & rude remarks about their bodies, but I don’t see fans worrying about the kids seeing those.)

So the next time you feel the urge to trash RP shippers, ask yourself: why do you care when the guys clearly don’t? Do you also trash the fans who post problematic or smutty content or do you reserve your ire just for RP shippers? And don’t come at me with “it’s doing harm” because unless you’re consistently going after the stalkers and fans posting shit the kids shouldn’t see, you’re a hypocrite and your objections have more than a whiff of homophobia about them.

#good omens #fan wankery #proshipping #real person shipping #smells like homophobia to me #fan hypocrisy

[veteran-fanperson]

Jeelakarra Bellam

Continuing my bodyguard!Charak saga. This goes to the point where our two first meet.

Read on AO3 here.

Read the previous work here.

If you want to be on a taglist for this series, just let me know!

---------------------------------------

“How about this one?” His assistant Raju slides another profile at him across the teak coffee table. “Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. 32 years old and Ex-Indian Army. Actually won the Vishisht Seva Medal before his release from the army five years ago. He was working with Pranav’s security detail previously, so great references too.” Raju continued. 

Charan picked it up, scanning the document. Two years older than him, yet such a different life. 

“Do you want to try him out for a while?” Raju persisted. “I asked around, he doesn’t have a creepy vibe. We could always go back to the agency after a month if you guys aren’t gelling well.” 

Sudhakar, Charan’s last bodyguard had been organised, quick and fun to hang out with and Charan would have been happy to hold on to him forever until he caught the man groping one of the young volunteers assigned to their entourage at a music release function. The sight of the girl’s tearful expression had prompted an instant dismissal from Charan, along with a change of their usual security agency. After their lacklustre reaction to his reason for breaking Sudhakar’s contract, Charan was sure of one thing at least - he did not want to hire any more of their people. 

“Why is the emergency contact section blank?” Charan asked him. 

Raju grimaced. “Yeah that threw me off too, and I called them up to ask if they’d just forgotten to put the information in. But no, turns out his father was absent. He was raised by his mother and she died five years ago. No siblings. I guess he’s a bit of a lone wolf, but the agency did make extensive enquiries. He showed incredible bravery saving civilians and fellow Jawans in a terrorist attack in Kashmir, hence the award. I interviewed him too and he was perfectly candid about things, just said he had a difficult couple of years and was still adjusting to life after. ”

“I guess it’s not a crime to have no close connections… but still, to not even list an old colleague or a neighbour?” Charan wondered, looking down at the page again, wondering what it was like to be this man. To be alone, day after day, month after month. What did he do after work? What did his phone look like? He looked at the picture, at the unsmiling face of a young man with short clipped hair and precise moustache. The eyes were blank, telling him nothing. 

“Let’s try him out,” he said finally. “But at the first sign of anything strange, he goes.”    

“Absolutely.” 

*****

A sharp knock sounded at his office door the next Monday morning and Charan looked up from the script with a start. 

“Come in,” he called out, and the door swung open.

“Hi there, I’m Tarak.” 

Charan gaped. The man who entered was only about as tall as Charan, but he walked with an energy and force that naturally drew the eye to him. He was simply dressed in a grey shirt and jeans, with plain sneakers on his feet. His hair was much longer than Charan anticipated, a mess of wild curls that stood around his head like a halo. His beard looked just as unruly as his hair. His shoulders were very broad, and he had thick muscly arms that were barely concealed by his shirt. The hand he extended out to Charan was large as well, a simple bracelet made with wooden beads adorning his wrist.  

“Hello?” prompted Tarak. “I was told you were expecting me.”

Charan continued to gape, registering with a shiver Tarak’s low, deep voice. His eyes were large and intensely dark, and Charan found it hard to look away from their hypnotising depths. “You don’t look anything like your picture.” He blurted out at last, mentally kicking himself a moment later because that was definitely not what he wanted to say. 

“Does your contract involve me being clean shaven, cutting my hair and keeping it regulation length?” Tarak asked him, withdrawing his hand. His voice was bland, but his eyes were not amused. 

Charan flushed. “Sorry I just - I don’t need anything like that - you don’t need to look a certain way - I mean unless you want to. It’s up to you.” he mumbled, looking down at his desk and quickly holding out his own hand. He felt the other man take it in a firm grip, shaking it quickly before letting go. There was a long, awkward pause as Charan studied the wavy lines of the wood in his desk. 

“May I sit down while we go over your schedule and general expectations or do you want me to come back later?” Tarak asked him finally. 

“Oh, no. Now is - now is fine. Just great. And yes, let me draw you a chair - hang on -” Charan babbled as he pushed his own chair back and stood up. He grabbed a chair and dragged it to the opposite side of the desk before returning to his own. He pushed the script pages aside, opening his desk drawers to find a copy of his schedule for the next month. 

“This month is mostly empty,” he said, pushing the schedule across to Tarak. “I just finished shooting the previous movie, it’s in post production now. Couple of dubbing bits left though. But I haven’t got - I don’t know exactly when. There are a few parties next month that I need to make an appearance at but this month is just - wardrobe fittings for the next movie starting up in six weeks time. Just got the script for it. I hope this one goes well because the last one - I don’t think it was very good, I think it’s going to bomb in the theatres - I did think it wasn’t a good idea but -” Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking.

“When would you like me to report each morning?” Tarak asked him, thankfully cutting off Charan’s rambling speech. “I’ll need a copy of this sent through to my phone.”

“I’ll ask Raju to do that. And I go to the gym early five mornings a week, like about four thirty. Two mornings I go riding. When I’m in town that is. Is that okay?”

“You make the hours.” Tarak said quietly. 

“I do have a small home gym but I enjoy working out with other people and my gym is fantastic. You can join me if you want, it’s a lot of fun.” Charan said, feeling a slight pang. Sudhakar was a fantastic gym buddy, he kept Charan motivated and kept unwanted company away. 

“Okay, and afterwards?” Tarak asked him, after another long pause filled with Charan brooding. 

“Oh.” Charan shook himself. “Afterwards I go home and have breakfast. Then a quick shower and I start for wherever I’m supposed to go by seven. To this office or shooting or whatever is on the schedule. I generally work till five unless it’s a shoot which can go on till ten. Most evenings I get off, I try to stay at home but there are sometimes functions I have to attend or people I have to have dinner with. Sometimes I meet my family or friends. That’s pretty much it.” He finished rather lamely, realising it did not sound very clear at all.

“Alright, sounds pretty straightforward.” Tarak said crisply, folding the schedule up and pulling out his phone. “I can start today if you want. Here’s my number, I already have yours. Just call or text me ten minutes before you need to leave and I’ll join you in the lobby. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?”  

“No. I mean, okay.” Charan said, grabbing his own phone.

“Yes?” Tarak asked politely.

“What?”

“You wanted to ask me something?”

“Oh.” Charan fumbled with his phone and it slipped out of his hands. “No, I mean. Not really. Sorry.”  

“That’s great then. See you later sir.” Tarak said, standing up and pushing his chair back.

“Just Charan is fine.” Charan replied, blushing slightly as he held out his hand. “And it is nice having you here - onboard I mean.”

“Likewise.” Tarak said, smiling slightly as he shook Charan’s hand again. His hand was warm and calloused. Charan shivered involuntarily at the touch, his heart picking up. His own hand felt clammy and cold. He wished he had wiped it before he shook Tarak’s hand. The tips of his fingers touched the cool wood of the beaded bracelet on Tarak’s hand, and he wondered if some girlfriend had given it to him. The thought of Tarak having a girlfriend suddenly made him feel a little sick. 

“I’ll let you get on with your reading?” Tarak’s voice broke through again and Charan dropped his hand like he’d had an electric shock. 

“Yes of course, let me see you out.” He pushed his chair aside hastily and headed to the door, catching his foot on his laptop cable. Charan made an undignified squeak as he pitched forward, straight into Tarak’s chest as the other man leaped forward to catch him. Charan’s laptop thudded on to the carpeted floor behind him. 

“Easy, easy.” Tarak’s low voice whispered to him, like he was trying to soothe a nervous horse. He smelled like sandalwood and starch and sunlight, a woodsy, earthy smell that reminded Charan of the countryside surrounding their Bangalore estate. He felt his face flame up in embarrassment - he was a dancer, an equestrian, a runner - all things that needed excellent hand-eye coordination. Ten minutes with this magnificent man and he had turned into a ditzy feather headed idiot. 

“They’re hard to see, these cables.” Tarak said, tugging Charan back into his seat and picking up his laptop. “I’ve tripped over them so many times myself.” He plugged it back in and smiled at Charan, his eyes lighting up for the first time since he had entered the room. His tone was kind and easy, and Charan found himself smiling back despite his embarrassment. “I’ll see myself out, don’t worry. Need to catch up with Ravi anyway.”

He walked to the door and glanced back. “See you later Charan.”

“Bye.” Charan whispered, and when the door clicked shut buried his face in his hands. 

‘You’ll like him, Charan. There’s something about him.’ Ravi had said. Well there certainly was something about Tarak. Just his luck that he had to end up with the hottest man he had ever seen in his life as his fucking bodyguard. Someone he had to talk to and travel with every single day. Someone he needed to see in the gym. He wondered what Tarak looked like under his shirt. He had certainly felt like a brickhouse when Charan had laid against his chest.  

Charan groaned and pulled at his hair. He was screwed.    

#charak #charak is soulmate goals #CharanxTarak #alternate universe #my fanfiction #real person fiction #real person shipping

[nirinnnnn]

VLVS × GOOD OMENS 🤣

（p1p2是性转）

（用了两种不同的上色方法🤔）

#vasily livanov #vitaly solomin #vlvs #rps #real person shipping #fanart #good omens parody