#keeley wants Jamie in her life and has been fond of him for a long time

[samwpmarleau]

001: Jamie x Keeley

You have only yourself to blame for this novel 😂

Also I got a bit salty on some of these. Oops ...

When I started shipping it if I did

I honestly don't know for sure? I think I started being all, "Oh???" after Jamie's confession, because it had come out of the blue for me and thus caused me to reevaluate basically everything. Then through an assortment of rewatches, meta, gifsets, etc., I moved into fully shipping them.

Part of it is born out of spite as well, because I find it immensely irritating that:

A. R/K shippers say with absolute authority that their ship is endgame. Will it probably be? Yes. Will it definitely be? No, so it’d be nice if people didn’t pretend like a different outcome is preposterous.

B. Fandom often infantilizes Jamie in regards to the relationship, which is both not okay and bizarre. I literally saw someone say that because Keeley has called both Jamie and Phoebe "sweetheart," that means she views him as a child. By that logic, Jamie calling her "kid" must mean he sees her as one, too? As though people don't use the same terms of endearment for romantic and platonic relationships all the time. Jamie's a grown-ass adult, one Keeley chose to be in a lengthy relationship with, one who's very emotionally intelligent, one who just needed to get out of his own head (which he has). Him having some growing to do in season 1 (as did everyone) doesn't warrant pretending he's a child, nor that he wasn't very much so a romantic partner of Keeley's whom she valued both then and now.

C. Fandom acts as though it was a completely superficial relationship that meant nothing, which it absolutely was not and did not.

D. Fandom also acts as though because Jamie and Keeley weren't a good long-term fit at the beginning of the series that means they'd be a bad fit now, too, despite them being entirely different people and Jamie in particular having become exactly the man Keeley always wanted him to be.

My thoughts

TL;DR I love them a lot a lot and I wish other people did, too 😭

Longer answer: I find it very unfortunate that almost no one ships them (at least, ships them without Roy, which, along with R/J alone, is my notp) despite them having been canon and there being a lot of potential. I want that second-chance storyline! Give me them growing outside of one another through a variety of experiences and people, then coming back together in the end because the spark and connection that brought them together in the first place now has a solid foundation on which to be built.

Or give me a happy slice of life from during their relationship! Or any number of AUs, whether canon divergence or wholesale universe change! Something.

I know some people say they think Jamie and Keeley being endgame would be presenting Keeley as a reward for him becoming a better person, but I don't see it that way at all, and I think that's also doing a disservice to both the characters and the writers. Jamie's reward for becoming a better person is being happier, well-adjusted, and having a healthier outlook on life. His reward is having friends and teammates who love and support him. His reward is being able to confront his demons (both inner demons and dad-related ones) and learn from his mistakes.

Ending up with Keeley wouldn't be a reward, it'd be him finally having the capacity to be in an emotionally mature relationship and treat her the way she deserves. Likewise, Keeley would get to be validated in having faith that this Jamie was inside him all along and experience everything he has to offer her that he wasn't able to before.

What makes me happy about them

All the little moments between them that are often overlooked and/or downplayed, their incredible fondness for one another, and their friendship in general.

What makes me sad about them

That they weren't in the right places to have a successful relationship when they were together and now likely won't get another go at it.

Things done in fanfic that annoy me

That there's no fanfic at all. At best there's a couple where Jamie's pining after her, except in those his feelings are 150% unreciprocated. There's fanfic for some super obscure ships and a truly baffling amount of fic for some ships you’d think would be obscure, but none for them :(

I get that the show barely touched upon their relationship from 1x08 to 2x10 and I get that it wasn't super profound or earth-shattering, but really? None? It's just frustrating is all.

Things I look for in fanfic

See above.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other

Jamie has zero canon love interests outside of Keeley and ... idk, Amy from the reality show? He's a blank slate. I hate that fandom has tainted a lot of R/K for me, because I don't otherwise have an issue with them (so long as their issues are sorted out) and they'll almost definitely be endgame. I wish I could enjoy them inside and out the way I used to, but I can't :/

So really, I guess mostly anyone for Jamie (Sam or Dani would be cute) and Roy for Keeley. Or no one for Keeley, tbh. While she's done very well for herself both career-wise and growth-wise, I think it would do her some good to be single for a while.

My happily ever after for them

Normally I don't like ambiguous endings, but I would for sure be okay with one here. While it’d be rad if they were explicitly endgame, I think there would be a certain sweetness to an endgame that's merely hinted at, hammering home the message that they're starting fresh.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon

It's safe to say that Keeley almost always takes the lead with sex, but we've seen how soft Jamie is, especially with her, and how much he craves touch, so I think he'd be the one more prone to cuddling.

What is their favorite nonsexual activity

I'm not sure of a specific activity, but I really like envisioning them being domestic in general. They're both such animated personalities around other people but often a lot more subdued when by themselves, so I love the idea of them just ... existing outside of the public eye.

That scene in 1x08 is the closest I think we've seen of what they were like when it was just them, and it was wonderfully wholesome. Keeley was so warm and giggly, and Jamie was not only heartfelt but goofy. They had issues, obviously, but for the most part I like to think (and I'd say it's canon, even) that they quite simply genuinely enjoyed each other's company and got to see parts of each other that most people didn't get to see.

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send me a ship or character(s) and i will tell you ___