#TL;DR: Michael and David are cheeky little instigators (especially Michael) and I regret nothing

[ingravinoveritas]

Them: “You shouldn’t ship real people! It’s objectifying and gross! What would they think if they read the stuff you write?”

Me:

[ingravinoveritas]

I noticed a lot of people ship David and Michael. They started shipping them just because they saw Michael staring at David's lips. Let me tell you this: Michael always looks at people's lips when they talk, sometimes with a smile or dreamy expression on his face. Is he in love with all those people? No. It might be just a habit. I also think they just tease the fandoms with their flirty comments. They both love attention. They know the fans will go crazy about it and they're enjoying it.

Oh, Anon. Well, there are a few points here that I agree with you on, but as for the rest...

But let’s start with the points I agree with, Anon, so we can have a good, civil discussion here. I’ve said this before, and I will readily reiterate that I am fully aware that Michael and David do enjoy teasing the fandom. I had someone come at me over this on another social media platform the other day, so let me be 500% crystal clear: I know that there is a PR machine at work. I know many of us are reacting to the workings of said machine. Obviously, Michael and David had to have some sort of script for answering the same questions over and over again on the GO press tour. And of course Michael and David love attention. They’re actors. Hell, I’d be calling the paramedics or a priest or the ghost of Sigmund Freud if Michael and David didn’t enjoy getting their egos stroked on occasion. HOW-FUCKING-EVER.

This is where we part ways, Anon. I can only speak for myself here, but the Michael-staring-at-David’s-lips thing is a mere fraction of the reason I started shipping them. It is a tiny slice of the delicious Shennant pie, which is comprised of many lovely flavors and textures. One of which is that Michael consistently talks about and looks at David like he hung the moon and sun--this sort of singular, permanent starry-eyed expression that lives on Michael’s face whenever they are near each other, and I swear every time he does it, I start hearing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the freaking Lion King. (In this analogy, Michael is Nala and David is Simba. I’m just saying.)

Another is the leaning. Michael orienting not just his eyes, but his entire body to be facing David. There are plenty of interviews where Michael does indeed look at people’s lips when they are talking, Anon, but there is an entire galaxy of difference between Michael concentrating on what someone is saying versus every molecule in his body rearranging itself in David’s direction. A few examples (of the many that are out there):

The entire concept of personal space: Exists

Michael Sheen:

ALSO. You are quite correct that Michael has looked at other people with a dreamy expression on his face...but do you know who those people were, Anon? His significant others. People with whom he was in a long-term committed relationship. People he cares/cared about on a deep, personal level. But the great thing about Michael Sheen, the Welsh Seduction Machine™ (no, that’s not officially trademarked yet, but by God, I might as well do it) is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He makes his feelings very, very plain and obvious, and that is why the aforementioned PR machine and fan teasing only explains so much.

Because what is worth noting is that Michael and David (especially Michael, who just cannot help himself) have made these comments and quips when they’re completely on their own. Michael calling David his “lover” last year. Michael THIS year calling David’s hips “slinky” and saying that he “took him home from the set of Good Omens.” David saying “Maybe I should’ve married Michael Sheen” last year. David THIS year calling Michael’s beard “cuddly” and talking about “occasionally filling a Michael Sheen-shaped hole.” And what brings me unending joy is that even now, long after the GO press tour has ended, David still speaks so fondly of Michael, and Michael’s face still lights up when he talks about David and how much he admires him--as an actor and as a human being. 

Is that love? Or is that merely a bid for attention? Maybe a little of column A, a little of column B, Anon. But I ship Michael and David because there is no easy answer to that question. I ship them because their relationship isn’t just about looks or leaning or flirty comments...it’s about what they mean to each other. I ship Michael and David because their energy is so incredibly positive--warm and happy, sexy and sweet--and we damn well need all the positive things in the world we can get right now.

Anyway, that’s my two shiny pennies on the matter. I admit I was slightly miffed by your query at first, Anon, but I’m glad I got to write all this out. I hope it helped to open your eyes a bit.

[ingravinoveritas]

So I've got some feedback for your fic. Can you put it behind a fucking cut? Please for the love of g-d. Not everybody trawling the tags wants to have to scroll through lines and lines of a non-gay woman fetishising an imagined gayness between actual straight, real fucking people, especially not this actual gay. Please. At least tag it with rpf. I'm begging you.

Oh, Anon. This is a little hateful for a Sunday morning, isn’t it? There are some things I like to have on Sunday mornings: Pecan pancakes. A Spanish omelette, with potatoes and onions and a little bit of parsley. But there is one thing that can ruin both of those tremendously tasty dishes, and do you know what that is, Anon? Saltiness.

I have to say, though, I’m kinda struggling here with some of your comments. “Imagined” gayness? So, that means I must have imagined the multiple instances of Michael openly thirsting after David, like this:

And this:

Also this:

Oh, and this:

David is more subtle and reserved, in contrast to Michael’s eager expressiveness, but gosh, I must have imagined this, too:

My imagination is just running wild, apparently, to have made all of this up and not have culled it from countless interviews and appearances Michael and David have done for OVER A YEAR NOW. Heck, I must be the Willy Wonka of British actor smut:

Who knew, right? Purple is my favorite color, though, and I do enjoy spontaneously breaking into song, so it does seem to fit.

So, Anon, where does this leave us? You’ve assumed that Michael and David are straight (I know they’re not gay, but bisexuality is A Thing That Exists), and also that I’m straight, when I’ve said nothing to indicate my own sexual orientation...but somehow I’m the one imagining things. I can for sure tell you one thing that I didn’t imagine, though: I actually DID tag my post with #good omens rpf, as I do tag all of my RPF writing, which you seem to have somehow missed, and which I’ve helpfully circled in red here:

I sure do hope this helps you out, Anon. Like David Tennant, Sunday mornings are easy, so I hope you’ll be able to go ahead and enjoy yours. Thanks!

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi! Shipping real people is not okay..

Hello, Anon! I’m assuming this is in response to the meme I just reblogged/added to with a meme of my own. The writing on it may seem out of context, but it’s actually a direct quote from David, who spoke that very line during an interview this morning. So it is not something that I made up purely for the sake of shipping David and Michael, but an innuendo-laden statement direct from Lady Godiva and her his horse’s mouth.

Also, I have discussed this matter previously, having been attacked by a few other Anons, so allow me to direct you to this post and this post for further reading, which hopefully will help to address some of your concerns.

I understand that you do not think that shipping real people is okay, Anon, but neither is policing anyone’s content on the Internet. As I’ve mentioned before, I do not send my fanfics or posts to either Michael or David (which would be egregiously out of line, and which I have unfortunately seen fans do), and folks are more than welcome not to follow me or read what I write/post if it is not to their liking.

So, thanks for writing in, albeit unnecessarily.

[ingravinoveritas]

lostkittyramblings replied to your post “I noticed a lot of people ship David and Michael. They started...”

Ohhh lovely, more of you putting into words what I was trying to sort in my head ������ In my total personal opinion these two walking disasters dearly love each other ���� whether that is strictly platonic or something more is for them to know (and for us to occasionally wonder about ��)

Exactly! That is 100% my position as well. We get to joyously speculate and revel in the flirty exchanges/looks/etc. that Michael and David give us, and they get to decide what their relationship is and what they mean to each other. Thank you also for conveying in 1-2 sentences what I absurdly took several paragraphs to say. Haha. Love it!

[ingravinoveritas]

Can you imagine the people you seem to adore so much reading what you post? How embarrassed they'd feel? They're not characters, they're real people. It's weird and fetishistic wtf

Okay, Anon…I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and guess that this is in response to my jokey birthday post for Michael from earlier today. Or perhaps the Michael/David RPF I’ve written, if you’ve somehow managed to come across that.

So, let me tell you a funny story. When I watched Good Omens last year and subsequently got into the fandom, I was not at all inclined to write or even allude to any RPF between Michael and David. I’d been through the wringer in my previous fandom, and was far more interested/invested in Aziraphale and Crowley, as well as slowly exploring the careers of Michael and David and all of the things they’d been in that I hadn’t seen. I binge-watched Masters Of Sex, Broadchurch, and every movie of theirs that piqued my interest and that I could get my hands on.

At the same time, I started watching interviews of them. Not just Michael and David together, but separately as well. David’s interview on Graham Norton from 2007, for example, which was the interview that made me love him. And every single absurdly flirty interview of Michael’s with Craig Ferguson just blew my mind and made me fall head-over-heels for his wily Welsh charms.

But those interviews of Michael and David together, Anon. Those were what made me realize that it wasn’t just the characters of Aziraphale and Crowley to whom I was drawn. It was the men behind them, and the very powerful, hilarious, beautiful chemistry between them. The relationship between Az and Crowley worked so well in the first place because of that chemistry, and I found myself seeing it more and more whenever Michael and David were together, and it was utterly irresistible.

Then these two moments happened…

Now, David is a fandom veteran. David’s been around the block and knows what things to say to rile fans up, to get that certain specific reaction out of a crowd. But Michael…Michael is a lovable madman. He did that interview with Richard Herring last summer…and that happened. Apropos of nothing. There was nothing that led up to it, not even a whisper of a mention of GO or the Ineffable Husbands…nada. Zip. Zilch. Niente. And yet…”he’s my lover.”

So between these two moments and the countless interviews of Michael and David together endlessly praising each other, gazing at each other, Michael staring at David’s mouth like he was starving for it…It was like the floodgates opened, Anon. I’ve read and written RPF before (as mentioned above), but I read MS/DT fics long before I ever attempted to write one, because I wanted so much to properly capture their personalities and voices. It took months for me to write anything because I was so concerned about it being true to who Michael and David are. If all I wanted was just to see two hot guys making out–if it was just that generic kink I was after–I could simply watch porn. But my fantasies aren’t about random men; they’re about Michael Sheen and David Tennant. And those fantasies are an extension of what Michael and David themselves have put out in the world for all of us to play with, to imagine, and to enjoy.

So, no, I don’t think Michael or David would be embarrassed by what I’ve written. They certainly do and have been embarrassed by other things–often adorably so–but from every interview or appearance I’ve seen, they also have a sense of humor about themselves. And while I’ve seen horrifying incidents in other fandoms of fans sending their fics to the actors in question, I am in no way doing that with Michael and David. I am not pushing my work into their faces and I never will (though Michael has admitted to reading fanfic in the past and god knows what corners of the Internet he’s lurking in).

It’s unfortunate that you’ve come across my posts and have some issues with them, Anon. But I’m going to offer you a really nifty solution to that very exact same problem: Don’t like, don’t read. Super easy, super doable. This way, the folks who do enjoy what I post (and there seem to be quite a few, as I’ve just recently passed the 1,000 follower mark, which is mind-boggling to me) can keep on enjoying it. I hope this helps you out, Anon, and that this can conclude our interaction and we can go our separate ways. Godspeed, Allons-y, Live Long and Prosper, and Tickety-Boo to you…