#chambergambit

Fan art for this wonderful fic I finished the other day, featuring @chambergambit ‘s wonderful OC Seth Starling.

Hold on because I’m about to absolutely butcher what “theme” means in literary theory. I know this isn’t a theme. It’s definitely more of a topic or a plot. It is something that I want to write more and something that isn’t explored enough (for my taste), though.

I want more stories that explore what it’s like to have a relationship after the romantic relationship ends. Not exes who hatefuck, not exes who are only in each other’s lives because they have kids and snark at each other as they exchange custody, not people who had a youthful thing that was never going to work and discovered they were better as friends. 

I want more people who were in long term, committed, adult relationships that fully expected would last for the rest of their lives, who made plans together assuming this was forever, and then the end up separating, but they continue to be in each other’s lives in meaningful ways. But not in a “we’re totally past it” way. In that way where they’re still gentle or hesitant about how they discuss new relationships with each other because they know it’s going to sting, and it kind of hurts to see them move on, and being happy they’re happy is always lowkey bittersweet, but they care about each other deeply enough that they want to keep in touch. I want more “I will always love you even though we couldn’t make it work” stories and more “we’re always in each other’s orbit even though we’ve moved on” stories.

I tend to end up including all my headcanons in the fic, or writing a little spin-off bit to talk about it, so instead I'm gonna do you one better and post an outtake from Take me lost / Make me found. I wrote this to go at the end of part 1, but I ended up cutting it and going on without it because it just works better that way. (Hopefully I don't get another question that's like "post an outtake from a published fic" - I didn't read all of them before I reblogged that post xD)

When Robert sets his mind to something, he commits. Sometimes for far longer than is sensible, actually - it's a character flaw he is well aware of but has made no progress in taming. And so, for a couple of weeks, Robert doesn't make any plans with Aaron, and he turns down an invitation or two that he wouldn't normally because he's feeling particularly vulnerable, but then he forces himself to face it. Aaron and Alex. He goes over to Aaron's, steels himself, asks how things are going between them. "Fine," says Aaron, not looking away from the TV, frowning as he looks for a channel they might want to watch. Robert wants to kiss the crease between his brows - No. No, he doesn't. Because Aaron's his best friend and nothing else, and so what if he's hot? He's dating someone else, he's happy, and Robert can't risk what himself and Aaron have. It's too dear to him. He has never had anything quite like it before. "How's Alex?" Robert takes to asking, numbly, every time he sees Aaron. One day, when they're sat in the pub, the answer goes from "Fine" to "We broke up." Robert has done such a good job of telling himself the 'just friends' story that he feels only the barest flicker of excitement at this news, accompanied by sympathy. "Oh. What happened?" "He was a bit... too keen," Aaron says. "He was practically planning our wedding and I'd barely figured out if I liked him or not yet. It was a bit creepy." "I'm sorry it didn't work out," Robert says. Aaron shrugs. "It is what it is." "So are we more in a 'get ice cream and eat our feelings' situation or a 'get drunk and find someone better' situation?" Robert asks. Aaron laughs, making Robert's chest warm with the way his eyes crinkle at the corners. "How about a 'game of darts then back to mine for a horror film' situation? That okay?" Robert smiles at him. "What are friends for?"

YIKES! | he is not my type | he's ugly but i want him | cute but on alternating wednesdays | he's just some guy and i like him | i see the appeal | okay he's handsome | pretty boy™ literally just the prettiest white man | so true bestie you win

Stuff that requires research! With fanfic, this ends up being a lot of Downton stuff lately because if I start trying to research for fic, I won’t finish researching for classwork. I have a lot of notes for a Downton fic that deals with Tom processing Bloody Sunday while in Yorkshire, trying to get in touch with family via telegram who might have been at Croke Park, processing the English news coverage in the papers (and potentially Robert putting his foot in it and Matthew being gentle and supportive), but I want to do some actual diving into newspaper archives for that, so ... at the moment, it’s on the back burner.