oh also same anon as before, sorry, but i wanted to give you an opportunity to just talk about your challengers crossover because i like it and i want more thoughts on sojoplittle out there cos so far they've been confined to my mind and one server im in... jopson in a tashi position is genius especially because sol/patrick and edward/art are incredibly dog coded. it works so well
Ooooh thank you so much for letting me indulge!! I never expected ppl would wanna see more of this, my thought process was literally "I love this still from challengers and I love sojoplittle, jop deserves to be pampered by both his dog coded boyfriends so I will redraw it" and the other ones were legit just me having fun at redrawing stills haha
But yeah if you think about it more it could actually be something so I let it marinate in my head for 2 hours and this is what I came up with (brace yourselves this is gonna be a long one)
(Big disclaimer tho I am not a storyteller and the details are a little murky, same with the historical accuracy concerning the Navy but I tried)
(Also sorry english isn't my native language as you've probably clocked by now)
So the first canon divergence is that Little and Tozer know each other before the expedition and were good friends. They met at a military academy or something before Tozer decided to leave for the Marines. Little loves Tozers protectiveness of those placed under his command and his charisma, Tozer loves Littles gentleness and his ability to give commands without being condescending and the respect he earns for it (he also loves to tease Little who's a little prudish).
When they meet again by chance on the Franklin expedition they're obviously stoked. They have had a weird ambiguous "little more than friends little less than lovers" thing going on back in their time at the academy but now on the open sea things are more liberal (you have to be careful still, christian doctrine and homophobia is still a thing but most of your mates will cut you some slack if the last time you've seen a woman was months ago when they find you with another man).
In the first Winter of the expedition they are discovered by Jopson who, instead of telling Command, just smirks and asks if he can join. He'd suspected something for a while and found both Little and Tozer quite handsome. The purely physical attraction soon becomes emotional, especially for Jopson and Little who feel akin in their roles of servitude with their position under Crozier. Jopson and Tozer don't bond all that much emotionally (they match each other in their (idk how graphic I can get with this) physical desires) but with all three there is no jealousy involved and up until Sir John's death they're a relatively happy (secret) polycule.
After the death the story basically progresses as it does in the show, the carnival, the abandonment of the ships, the mutiny. Tozer, after loosing faith in Crozier and Fitzjames, decides that Hickey is their best way out alive. He confines in Little who, still very much loyal to Crozier despite everything, lashes out and begs Tozer not to go. Tozer hesitates to leave his two lovers behind but in this moment the will to survive is stronger and anything physical between them.
So he leaves, the plot continues as it does in the show including Jopsons promotion to 3rd Lieutenant that Crozier gives him in Episode 9 (?). Everything progresses normally until the point where Hickey, Crozier and the mutineers face the tunbaaq. At the same time a rescue party arrives at the non mutineers camp, finding Little, Le Vesconte and the other surviving men. They are fed and treated while smaller rescue party splits off to find Crozier and the rest. They discover them all dead, all except for Tozer who's nowhere to be found. They don't tell Little and Jopson though, obviously not knowing that someone's even missing.
The surviving men are fared back to England, a lot of them die on the ship, almost also including Jopson who clings to life with every last ounce of strength he has. Among the dead is Le Vesconte which makes Little and Jopson the only high ranking officers to make it back (there's a handful of other survivors but none important enough to face the Admirality).
So back in London they're given a short time to recover before they're scooped up and paraded around every Admirality event there is. English society wants to hear all about the brave heroes who made it back from that gruesome, inhospitable land.
Little is absolutely traumatized. The years under Croziers unstable command, everything that happened after they abandoned ship, how close they came to death - it's absurd to him how casually people ask him of it. Jopson comes to the rescue, giving smart answers to nosy young ladies. He's affected by the whole thing as well of course, but he is used to masking his real emotions. In private, Little and Jopson comfort each other, easing the pain at least a little.
After a few months, routine has settled in. Jopson starts to enjoy the life as a Lieutenant, and although the repeated questions are annoying, he starts to appreciate the comforts of a lifestyle so well above that what he was used to. Little doesn't get much better though. Jopsons patience starts to run thin, not only believing that enough time has passed to get back to the realm of the living again, but also because he is dependent on Little: While he is a Lieutenant on paper and much of the Admirality respects him for his "heroism", they can't accept his low birth. The curtesy they afford him at balls is all fake, Jopson knows that, and without Little around to essentially legitimize him they will find a reason to throw Jopson back out on the street. Since he's not interested to actually hold Command as a Lieutenant, the idea that Little needs to secure a place on an expedition to stay relevant and credible forms within him. Because the Admirality is getting impatient, a young sailor like Little should be back on a ship in no time, no matter how gruesome the experience beforehand was.
Jopson gets increasingly more pushy for Little to apply for a command, but Little refuses to ever set foot on a ship again. Jopson is tied to him by classism but also, still, by love. Deep down he still loves Ned, the gentle, caring man always keen to serve. But that Ned is almost entirely gone, left somewhere in the Arctic Labyrinth. Instead he's trapped with a shell of a man in what is basically a loveless marriage, being ushered from ball to ball, retelling the same story's over and over until they don't feel real anymore. Little is still as in love with Jopson as he had been since the first Winter on the ice, not being able to imagine what it would be like to not have him on his side, care for him, reassure him that he's not going crazy, it really happened, tunbaaq, the dead and all.
Pissed off, Jopson takes a stroll down at the harbor one evening, it's a few years after the expedition at this point. At the docks he spots a familiar face: Tozer.
After making sure its actually him Jopson drags Tozer into an alley, cursing and shouting and Tozers treachery, why he would ever go with Hickey, why he abandoned them, how is he even alive.
Tozer responds calmly, simply asking is Ned is still alive. Jopson strikes him. Instead of responding Tozer kisses Jopson (insert the parking lot hate sex scene).
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Okay sorry for the abrupt end, I haven't made up my mind how to end the whole thing, the end of the movie is kind of ambiguous so nothing to go by really.
I like the thought of them all making up tho and then leaving England for some remote island in the pacific (maybe the sandwich islands??) to live out the rest of their days happy and undisturbed and never ever cold again :)
Feel free to use this long ass concept, if you're as deep into the brainrot as I am and want to make some content with this tag me lmao
