So the lovely @midmorningsong left me an incredibly thoughtful essay on Chapter 3 of Eventide, and I thought I might reply here, should anyone else cares to read.
The portrayal of love in media is something I am very passionate about, and it was one of the primary motivators for me to start writing for Jayvik, as I think, in this fandom, there is a dearth of the kind of romance I want to read about.
I see an overwhelming amount of angst and whump focused stories, where the spice is driven by co-dependency, miscommunication, trauma, and toxicity; and I completely understand why that is the case, don't get me wrong. This is not an attempt to disparage those works; they're enjoyable for a reason. They're incredibly tasty. I get it. I do.
They're just not for me, generally.
I crave stories where the spice comes from the spice of love. Where flirting with your partner doesn't stop just because you're together. When the effervescent joy of finding someone who understands you, who inflames you, is eclipsed by the shuddering delight of experiencing how those feelings only deepen over time, not fade.
Love, for me, should flourish eternally, when it's done right. The sex gets hotter the longer that love exists, because why shouldn't it? Don't we rejoice in finding every permeation of touch that pleasures our partner(s)? Don't we want to feel cherished and adored, every day of our lives?
The honeymoon phase never has to end, not if what you share is true and selfless and generous.
So I don't want drama to be the primary push for the characters I write about to get together. I want it to be the growing trust and faith in each other that does it, the alchemical magnetism, the mutual understanding, the sheer wonder of finally, finally being known.
I want them to hold space for each other, to honour each other, to strive to better themselves just because they want to be worthy of their partner. That doesn't mean there aren't arguments, or mistakes, because those are part of every relationship; but it's about always working to overcome those challenges, to meet back in the middle with vulnerability and kindness, because there's no desire to hurt the person you've chosen to love and share this life with.
Jayce and Viktor share that sort of powerful love, in my opinion. I watch the show and I see two men with kindred souls, both holding something the other lacked, vision meeting belief. Two people who worked together for nearly a decade as colleagues and best friends, spending nearly all their time with each other and never tiring of the company. Who cleaved to one another even in the face of ruinous disaster and said I choose you, in this life and the next.
Their love, whether you read it as platonic or romantic, is fucking beautiful. So when I write, I want to pay homage to that, to give them some of the happiness I firmly think they deserved to have, to heal from their hurts together, just as they always chose to be.
