#tbh I don't know if they're single but usually not single people mention their partner in passing pretty often

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

When I have no one in my life to date I feel like I desperately need a partner but the second someone is in my life who's available I'm like "eh I'm not ready for a relationship. I got plany of time."

[msommers]

SFW 1, 8, 14 and NSFW 3 and 12 for the riya and maeve ship of your choice

so we're not gonna talk about how these were buried for a literal month or more in one of my google docs. we're gonna proceed w the funny idea that i was just That scared of ship exposure therapy and was shaking crying the entire time it took to post this (from memory i think i rolled and got lemmers on a maeve ship chart so uwu) // shipping headcanons

1) Who cooks?

RIYA/VICTOR — i struggle to see either of them anywhere near a kitchen if i'm being honest. that's a job for the people who are being paid to do it professionally, they're just here to enjoy the benefits of their efforts and pout if their favorite desserts don't happen to be there. 

MAEVE/ILYA — Maeve's banned from any kitchen ever, so it defaults to Ilya. he's ancient so i imagine he's had an obscene amount of practice, plus centuries worth of collected recipes that he'd love to spoil her with. 

8) Who knows how to swim? Who doesn’t?

RIYA/VICTOR — both of them. Victor enjoyed the sport of it, meanwhile Riya prefers the lounging around and floating more. i'm sure he got his ass thunderwaved for frightening the life out of her when she was just trying to float around one afternoon lmao

MAEVE/ILYA — they both do but now thinking about it, i don't think Maeve knows how to swim all that well. she learned the very basics and that was enough for her as a girly that doesn't spend much time in the water, simply likes watching it.

14) Who is the highest maintenance? Does the other mind?

RIYA/VICTOR — we all know the answer is Riya because It’s Riya. she craves so much attention and constant confirmation of affection whether it be through physical touch, gifts, or lovey dovey chatting. also she highkey just expected him to do whatever she asked. which she was right about! he was beyond whipped!! but it's still a ridiculous thing to expect. 

MAEVE/ILYA — i wouldn't label either of them high maintenance tbh. Maeve’s matured a lot by the time they get together, she no longer desperately needs the attention and displays of affection/love that she once did. 

3) Any kinks they clash on?

RIYA/VICTOR — they’re mostly on the same page but i’m deciding in this moment that they clashed on blindfolds. Riya likes to play with them every now and then for some added fun with partners, but i think it’d be fun comedy if Victor was a brat about it. she’s having a great time but then he starts complaining about not being able to see her, and that’s a fun tease for about 2 minutes before the mood’s thoroughly dashed and now he’s got a bitchy girlfriend on his hands (for a single night, they’re gonna kiss tomorrow morning like nothing happened at all).

MAEVE/ILYA — these two match each other's freak on every level, they’re golden. if anything, i can see them clashing with their other partners?? they value open communication too much for anything to happen while actively having sex, but i'm sure they've had conversations with lovers where their reaction to the mention of certain play had them sharing a “not for this one then, noted” glance. 

12) How are their afterglows?

RIYA/VICTOR — changed over the years as a result of them committing to something more serious than their previous relationships, i think. at the start Riya would simply continue her habit of indulging in about 5 minutes of post-orgasm vibing before diving into her ridiculous 14 step bedtime routine, something she settled into after years of casual hook-ups with lovers that she expected to be gone or asleep by the time she exited her bath. Victor got to her in time, to where she'd be happy with his afterglow clinginess and instead expected to be locked down with cuddles and chats for at least half an hour before they'd part or sleep. it was usually during that period that they could approach more serious topics (a rare occurrence) without worrying whether either of them would try to deflect or reject them. 

MAEVE/ILYA — they're the ruling couple of aftercare + i imagine their lovemaking is almost always intense to a degree bc it's charged with such strong emotions on both sides (+ Ilya is just an intense sorta guy tbh), they need the long wind-down full of gentle kisses and quiet exchanges of love and affectionate touches to ride that wave. this is where he gets Maeve at her truly mushiest state. i mean she's always a romantic and never hesitates to share affection, but this is that next level nonsense where she can be doing shit like tearing up over how loved she feels while just laying there, delivering romantic speeches between kisses, telling him how much she wants to have his children, conceptualizing what else their future can hold, etc etc etc. she's never felt safer with anybody in her entire life and that security's at its peak after they've just indulged in some freaky shit lmao

[oh-my-damn]

Do you mean that he's not talking about it, or what do you mean by vetting??/

Sorry lol; i mean it seems questions about personal life are more forbidden now than ever before; if his thing with Alba was related to ghosted to sell him as a romantic lead, how it makes sense none of the questions are romantic?

Okay, so

I definitely think things are locked down rn because of the backlash. I do believe they intended something different, probably more, than what's happening. The backlash has not only been on Chris and the trolls, but also on Ana and Dexter and it has tarnished the entire movie. I have a feeling Ana and Dexter, if anyone, do not want anything to ruin the release. They were absolutely counting on Chris' fandom to pull in numbers and I'm sure they're worried about what will happen with everything going on. I also think they know that even anything mentioning or hinting at AB will make the fandom angry and not want to support (even less than they already do)

However, I also think the PR thing, while connected to Ghosted, is not connected to Ghosted. It's connected to Chris and the image he needed to sell in a movie where he was the lead. They thought it would be a good idea and work well, both with the GP and his fandom. It worked with neither. A lot of the GP already dislike the pairing due to the age-gap and the visuals of it, they don't even know about the racism etc.

So I think strategy has changed from what they intended. He lost a lot of fans and followers after posting those stories, too. People didn't even know about it until they saw it on his insta and a lot of people think of him as a cliché now. He does not have the cute, loving, husband-material vibe anymore; now he's an old creep dating someone much younger who looks even younger than she is.

Considering a lot of his fans are women (and that many of them are in their 30's and up) that's a really bad look. Just go on tiktok or twitter and you will see people who aren't even that deep in the fandom cringing about the optics all over the place.

I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to begin with, tbh. I don't want to jinx anything but I also feel like there might be hints coming at us right now. The silence, the weird articles about his ex's, the solo sightings and articles with no mention of the pairing.

He didn't necessarily need the image for or during Ghosted. He needed it back in the day because he had simply been single (in the public eye) for too long. That can be ratified by having him seemingly settled down/wanting to settle down and keeping that partner around for the press etc, but it can also be ratified a lot easier (for him in many ways since it does not tie him as permanently and he doesn't have to actually be tied to it physically for as long, like Seb and Ale); by selling a narrative that they have been in hiding for over a year and are happy but that it fell apart before the premiere. It's perfect for them to also blame it on the backlash from his fandom especially, and once again make the fans the bad guys, like they did with Jenny (and ignore the fact that he definitely isn't as he seems, as we could learn from the few hints in her book)

That way, there will be no mention of her anywhere during press, and eventually she fades away until he drops a hint or comment somewhere that he's single.

I also believe we won't get a BUA. I simply believe it'll fade, like it usually does with him, and then months later we'll get some confirmation (like with Jenny, where the confirmation of the break up actually came out months after it had happened, as was mentioned in her Vulture interview after the first round)