Any advice for how to deal with Stendan being over?? I don't know why I did this to myself but I just watched their last scene together and now I'm crying and I don't think emmet will ever be back on hollyoaks :(((((((
oh friend, i don’t know what to say. i am definitely in this boat with you. sometimes i watch those last few eps and by the end i feel like there’s a gaping whole in my chest and i’ll cry or sometimes i’ll just sit there numbly wondering how it is that two fictional characters could mean so fucking much to me
as for actual advice, here’s the best i can do:
first off, don’t give up hope for emmett coming back. just don’t. despite having originally been super optimistic about the possibility, i myself have started to worry about the same thing- what with emmett being busy with so many new projects, he wouldn’t even have time. but while i don’t have faith in emmett’s dedication to hollyoaks, i do have faith in his friendship with kieron. i do 100% believe that no matter how shoddy the quality of the show has gotten, emmett will do anything in his power to give kieron the sendoff he deserves whenever he decides to leave- and we know that they know that a stendan reunion is exactly that.
until then, or worst case scenario ste is written out and no brendan return, i console myself with one fact: stendan got an incredible ending. you know this firsthand because whether its the first time you’ve watched their goodbye or years later it still hurts so much, and that’s a good thing. if you think about it, we are so lucky compared to say mcdean fans, for whom i feel so so bad. they got their beautiful sunset ending and then got it ripped from them. all the progress those characters made was taken away in a moment and now its just… gone, like craig didn’t even matter. for stendan, they didn’t /break up/. they were never more in love than in their final moments. they were ripped apart by so many things out of their control, by their own past. no matter what happens in either of their lives- ste could fuck his way through chester and take every drug known to man but it will never change the fact that ste and brendan love each other more than anything in this world.
but what else?
fanfiction is life. read gorgeous reunion fics like this and this and pretend they’re canon. read fluffy and smutty oneshots- during canon or in post-reunion happiness. read aus where the problems that tear them apart in canon don’t have that power anymore. (if you want any recs, give me a shout!) if you’re up for it, write some of your own, as bad as it may be, or when you’re falling asleep at night make up little scenarios in your head.
rewatch the good times. remember what makes all this pain worth it. think about how far our ste and brendan came and how much they changed each other. rewatch funny random episodes like king of hearts or cute sexy stendan ones like the “i’ll show you scrawny” one.
rewatch and notice things you hadn’t before- parallels, connections, development
rewatch when you’re home alone and let yourself scream out loud everything you feel. i s2g before i got this message i was watching some 2013 eps and screaming GOD FUCKING DAMN IT KEVIN I WILL MURDER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT
it helps. don’t repress those feelings
do that when its funny too. yell FUCKING EGG at our favourite “i’m brendan brady’s dirty little secret” or cackle like a maniac at brendan’s beanie.
and of course, talk to other stendan fans. like i said before, we’re all in the same boat and i’ve never seen a fandom so tight-knit as this one. we ride together, we cry together, we die together
wait what
(tho seriously i’m glad you sent me this message. my ask is always open if you want to talk more about /anything/)
and if all else fails: i know its hard, but think about these words: "nothing’s ever gonna change, and i’m never gonna feel any differently about you." "i’m never gonna feel any differently about you, i promise you, okay?" think about them, hear them in your head. remember that what brendan and ste have is untouchable. even if they never see each other again, they will never stop loving each other with every fibre of their being. stendan is forever.