Something Akin to Living

Fiddleford McGucket/Stanford Pines:

lab "partners" who broke the laws of physics and nature together but it went horribly wrong and one of them got stranded in alternate dimensions and the other wiped his memory so hard he went mad. 30 years later and they were finally able to reunite during the apocalypse. even though both had changed so much they wanted to forgive each other and move forwards

if fiddauthor isn't real then why is there only one bed in the bunker. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did they go stargazing and talk about wanting to start a family. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "my partner" and "my fiddleford". if fiddauthor isn't real then why does fiddleford subconsciously hang out around the shack decades after he stopped living there. if fiddauthor isn't real then why does ford have dreams about him every night. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did fiddleford leave his son and his failing/failed marriage to go live alone in an isolated cottage in the woods with his best friend from college. if fiddauthor isn't real then why is ford's ideal world one where he gets to work with fiddleford for the rest of time. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "life would be a nightmare without them" and "it's the most meaningful thing in the world". if fiddauthor isn't real then why did alex hirsch change that one scene in the book to sound less gay. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did fiddleford make his laptop password ford's name. if fiddauthor isn't real then why did they hold hands while hugging. if fiddauthor isn't real then why "i could have sworn that as he joyfully played, i could see the age lift off his face, and see the fiddleford who had been my friend so many years ago". IF FIDDAUTHOR ISN'T REAL THEN WHY DID FORD'S MORE HONEST RETELLING OF THE PORTAL SCENE FEATURE HIM GENTLY CRADLING FIDDLEFORD IN HIS ARMS

Xehanort/Eraqus:

they had a divorce scene where xehanort blasted eraqus in the face with no remorse which permanently left a scar and in the novels when he sees xehanort again (who is literally lying and manipulating him in the given scene) eraqus like. tenderly and lovingly smiles and touches his scar like WHAT

First of all. Eraqus is going gray but doesn’t look insanely old but as proof of age I’d like to say that he’s very close to Xehanort in age in Dark Road, the prequel in which they are teenagers, and Xehanort in the main time frame is extremely visibly old and was included in Retirement Home Rumble so Eraqus probably just aged extremely well. They’re trauma bonded through all their friends getting brutally murdered back when they were teens and the two of them were the only survivors (Dark Road was MESSED UP). I’m not sure if they entirely qualify only because they’re like the super divorced elder gays here but they’re definitely old men and definitely yaoi (noncanon but their end in KH3 was so so gay) so I’m submitting them anyway. Anyways the plot of Birth By Sleep was a weird divorce struggle between these two estranged lovers in which Xehanort manipulates Eraqus’ kids in a weird darkness plot because he went evil mode without his husband around to stop him. They have a decent amount of material being gay as their younger selves but that’s not what’s important here WHAT’S IMPORTANT HERE IS THE END OF KH3 when Xehanort’s evil plans were almost finished and then Eraqus appeared out of his basically-son Terra’s hair as a ghost. And talked it out like some kind of mid-battle relationship counseling. Then they put their arms around each other and Xehanort accepted defeat/death/whatever and they just??? faded into sparkles??? smiling at each other??? after like 11 games of buildup to this final battle??? They’re so Divorced Old Men Yaoi your honor

I hate these bitches but nobody does old man yaoi divorce like them. Inseparable "pals" until the tragedy happened, eventually sending them on two separate paths. Eraqus worried that xehanort would fall to darkness, refusing to see that he already had. Xehanort pushed all his feelings away, trying to see eraqus only as a tool for his goals. Xehanort literally stabbed eraqus in the back, killing him. Eraqus forgives him.

in birth by sleep eraqus is voiced by mark hamill and xehanort is voiced by leonard nimoy so in a way their friendship turned enemyship turned always still cared abt each other represents the love/hate relationship between star wars and star trek fans