#i think they both understand that they'll never entirely disentangle from that trauma too

[pynkhues]

I know you're a fan of Joey/Pacey as well. If you were to write a one-shot where are they now episode, what's their relationship situation / status?

Oh man, I love Joey x Pacey, anon! They were such a formative ship for me, and I rewatched the series at the start of lockdown, and while parts of the show have aged, I don't think their relationship has? If anything, it almost feels more modern than ever, particularly with the way it's such a satisfying slowburn, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers that builds on genuine chemistry, mutual respect and empathy. It's just!! So!! Good!!!

Overall, I actually liked where they ended up in the finale too. I loved that Joey was working in publishing in New York, and I liked that Pacey was successful as a chef, even if he was unhappy in it and in being back in Capeside, and I, of course, haha, loved that they ended up together in New York.

I think if I was to write a fic, I'd keep Joey in publishing, but have Pacey struggle with working in restaurants in New York. That the pace and the people and the culture of those kitchens would grind him down and that he and Joey would find themselves circling these conversations of what his future looked like more than what their future looked like, because the latter they just know. They're each others now, after all, have made that choice over and over and it's Joey who reminds him, now, then, always, that she loves who he is, not what he does. That they'll figure it out, and Pacey doesn't know how he got this far in life without her.

Doesn't know how he struggled through school and work and life without the room Joey gives him, without the space to figure things out with unwavering openess and empathy and support, and maybe he starts to try and bring that to the junior chefs. Tries to offer them what he never got - little bits of advice, but also room for trial and error, for them to figure things out on their own, and these kids balk and try to one-up each other (and sometimes him) and snark, but slowly maybe they warm to it. To him. Start to bring him their ideas first, start to tell him what they want to do, their goals, their hopes, and then they even let him help them, and it's that that surprises him most of all, because somehow it just fits on him.

And he's expecting Joey to be as surprised if not even more so when he comes back to their dinky little apartment and tells her he thinks he wants to be a highschool teacher, be for some kids what no one in Capeside ever was for him, but Joey just smiles at him, that bright, rising sun one that always cleared the dark, and when she kisses him breathless, says Mr. Witter has a nice ring to it, he falls in love with her all over again.

And I think it's hard work, but I think Joey and Pacey always make it work. I think they choose not to have kids, because they spent too much of their lives fractured by their relationships with their own parents, and in Joey's case, too long helping raise her nephew, and they have enough kids in their lives to get their fix where they need to. Instead, they shift into adulthood in a world surrounded by books and learning and growing and always each other and the freedom and support of a life that's theirs, and one day they'll sail again on a ship called True Love, because that much, at least, has never changed.